The prison system, inherently unjust and inhumane
|
Is the ultimate expression of injustice
|
and inhumanity in the society at large.
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Those of us on the outside do not like
|
to think of wardens and guards as our surrogates, yet they are.
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And they are intimately locked in a deadly embrace
|
with their human captives behind prison walls.
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By extension, so are we.
|
The terrible double meaning is thus imparted
|
to the original question of human ethics
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"Am I my brother's keeper?"
|
|
The second of February, 1980
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Began three days of misery
|
A scene of retaliation
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Epitomizing violence, horror, and vindication
|
Thieves, murderers, and rapists
|
Inundated their prison like homicidal sadists
|
Convict and guards alike would pay the price
|
To them the electric chair would look like paradise
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Only degradation, torture, and cremation would suffice
|
|
[chorus]
|
|
A sea of agony rolled in like the coming of the tide
|
The more fortunate escaped the insanity through suicide
|
The screams of the dying would haunt the living to the grave
|
Survivors of the riot relive the nightmare every day
|
The last act of defiance
|
|
With a never-ending appetite
|
Barbiturates set them off like dynamite
|
Eradicating informants
|
Acetylene torches dealt the punishment
|
Melted from skin to bone
|
The fire silenced their screams to moans
|
Smoke filled the air from bodies set aflame
|
Begging for mercy, but their words were spoken in vain
|
They weren't allowed to perish until they cherished all the pain
|
|
[chorus]
|
|
Guards they had taken hostage
|
Were to blame for pushing them over the edge
|
Their brutality would be their demise
|
Like sharks in a frenzy they lashed out at their prize
|
When the madness had ended
|
The gore was too intense to be comprehended
|
No one explained the real reason why
|
For cruelty of a few, so many should die
|
They knew of the flaws, but still insist the cause was justified
|
|
[chorus]
|
|
-----------------
|
The Last Act Of Defiance
|
| Exodus |
