A prison poem written at HMP Highpoint in autumn 2015. It is something of a rant about prison conditions, the gutter press view of them and the policy that makes all this garbage happen. Despite stupid rumours, nobody likes being in prison and nobody that completes a reasonable sentence can escape the trauma….except, of course, those career criminals that regard incarceration as an occupational hazard.
Prison, Press and Policy
Prison’s a place through which people pass
Victims themselves, for the most, alas
The good, the ugly, the very bad
The weird, the sad, the totally mad
The weak, the dim, the extremely bright
Those that use their might to fight
The sick, the thick, those prone to panic
The lonely, forgotten, the absolute manic
But all observers know little more
Of how insiders lived before
For prison changes those inside
No person can resist the tide
Those that scream out in the night
Know not how to share their plight
Locked in cells within their minds
Breaking from the chain that binds
Their past unto their present life
Prior peace to current strife
The events preceding matter less
Than how to survive this human mess
The highs, the lows, the sighs, the blows
That make, that break, the joys, the woes
Those outside should be aware
That nobody wants to be in here
Even those that work within
Seek some release from the infernal din
The gutter press that makes most laugh
Most of the inmates, officers, staff
With lurid tales of a luxury lifestyle
Those media lies make most of us smile
They pretend to know what goes on in jail
The Sun, the Express, the Daily Mail
Yet their sole concern is to make more sales
By twisting the truth in their tawdry tales
None of them pose the simple question
“Why are we putting people in prison?
Why do so many serve so much time?
And how does this help to combat crime?”
How many innocent men must suffer
To get a story on their front cover?
Do they really care about people
Must they shout out from every steeple
What the least informed prefer to hear
With no attempt to be sincere?
For prison may be a terrible place
But conviction is its own disgrace
Duration doesn’t reduce offending
It serves no purpose worth defending
We lock people up for years and years
Whilst ignoring the sins of our friends and peers
This is no plea for immunity
Let the convicted contribute to the community!