The Novelist Portent
Johnny E. Mahaffey
April 24, 2018
CRIMINALS THE ANIMALS
You saw that "governor" of ours, Southern to the bone,
on TV—every station—with his practiced response
ready, but lost on the go in the heat of a moment
as he defends an idea: prisoners are animals,
criminals locked away, why should we expect any less
than the stabbings and murders—it's who they are—who
they will always be—criminals, animals in cages
who know no other way—it comes from who raised them,
made them a way for us not to question, no one's
responsibility of rehabilitation, it's the cellphones, I say
that damned FCC, it's all on them!
You saw those senators, those educated, some Southern
some not—every station—with humane responses
unpracticed and from the heart—calling for prison and sentencing
reform, pointing out that cellphones had nothing to do with it,
as they rebuke an antiquated system: prisoners are NOT animals,
the prisons only treat them that way, with food for non-humans
and cages too small, no parole, no jobs or form of pay,
no hope to claim in any way—no reason, no incentive
to behave—no training, no schooling of vocational skills—
no family-orientated visits, only rude, biased vocabulary,
spat out at every decibel—"Put the animals back in their cages!"
Southern to the bone, Shawshank Redemption modeled business,
hidden badly behind each chevronned badge of shame.
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