Twenty-two points, plus triple-word-score, plus fifty points for using all my letters. Game's over. I'm outta here.
What I Learned at Folsom State
How does one keep his sanity?
In a world totally insane
Why should one have humanity ?
When the world is so inhumane
Once upon a time we forgot
What we did not know, we knew
The victims of a fiendish plot
And the evil things that men do
Men dwell in darkness til they die
With numbers instead of their names
Unaware, they were sold a lie
That smothered their collective flames
They must endure a masquerade
In order to keep hope alive
Imagined friendships often fade
As better deceptions arrive
Living our days enclosed in tombs
Eats away at ones' self-respect
Each d a y, as the madness resumes
Self-esteem suffers ill effects
Old vultures have no tears to wipe
Hyenas, no laughter to hide
Old men bite fruit thats not yet ripe
But cry if its rotten inside
Ravenous wolves seek to devour
Innocence like newly killed meat
Then leave uneaten parts to sour
And stink with the smell of defeat
All these things I see everyday
Behind these walls of steel and stone
Yet, I refuse to give my soul away
To be buried like a dog's bone
Am I all that you think that I am ?
A villian on the late night news?
No, my soul will never be damned
Because of the image you choose
Prison is about loss . It is about loss of freedom, loss of control, loss of family and friends, of any and all conditions of life. Prison is about punishment, loss of freedom is the punishment. But, that is and of itself is no longer enough. Now prisons are slave camps and warhouses for human consumption.
Big Business has moved in to combine with the California Department of Corrections and has set in place work forces nick named P.I.A (Prison Industry Authority). This has become a thriving business where the inmate is forced to work for pennies, in often unsafe conditions while the prison system grows and prospers. Politicians have come up with fancy names like; "war on crime", "war on drugs", "three strikes your out", "the crisis of public order". At the same time words like; high infant mortality, horrible housing, lack of food, poor education, lack of jobs are forgotten. Our court system is rushing those who are unable to retain private legal representation through the "proper channels" on into the prision system and into big business' hands and calling it procedure.
We must pull together as a people because it affects out communities. It affects us all.
Anthony Cozart, #C-01398
P.O. Box 3466 C.S.P./3B 04 143
Corcoan, CA 93212