Caged like an animal, never alone
Family and friends too expensive to phone.
Surrounded by felons, the prison code
Slavery status, barbed-wire abode.
Tasteless food, violent ways
Phoney religion, extended stays.
Sleep too much, wait for mail
Concrete surfaces, face so pale.
Families suffer, no one cares,
Twisted values, What’s really fair?
No forgiveness, branded forever,
Ties to society permanently severed.
Constant influx, few paroles,
hopelessness rules, venom flows
Bitter anger, no remorse,
Society’s outcasts, a generation lost.
~John Hannan MSP 2009
