PRISON LIVES MATTER (2023)

Prison lives matter
lives shattered
living the American nightmare,
We need support
against the courts
how they warehouse us here.

Razor wire plantations
their inspiration
slave pens of old,
Killing fields
riot armor and shields
if the truth be told…

These places
are not spaces
meant to reform or repair,
A trillion dollar industry
that sentenced me
by methods unjust and unfair.

No jury of peers
lawyers who play on our fears
to pressure pleas of guilt,
With concentrations of cops and guns
we will come
the reasons these places are built.

With political education
our inspiration
to raise awareness and senses of hope,
Outside of communities
whose disunity
is predicated on cops flooding them with dope.

Yes they create the problems
then pretend to solve them
with warehouses under key and lock,
We’re living commodities
it’s no oddity
to call us live stock.

Violence and coercion
is their version
of so-called security and control,
In a matter of decades
they made
the prison population multiply eight-fold.

Mass incarceration
the world’s largest prison population
in an empire that boasts justice and freedom,
It’s all a lie
the reason why
they capture our bodies and feed ’em…

Into the warehouses
separated from spouses
communities, loved ones and friends,
Lack of medical care
treated unfair
for many our lives prematurely end.

Our communities reduced
we can’t reproduce
separating the sexes,
Destroying our homes
spouses left alone
in need of companions become our exes.

Join our cause
without you we’re all lost
unity is our only hope,
And did I mention
it’s worse than lynching
without due process millions hang by a rope.

By Kevin Rashid Johnson