Most people think of prison as
a holder for the strange:
for killers, thieves, or psychopaths
who couldn’t ever change.
They think it doesn’t matter what
becomes of us in here,
so long as we can’t roam the streets
and make them live in fear.
They never seem to realize
the humans they would find,
if they could look inside these bars
and keep an open mind.
The people you will find in here
are capable of change,
and most of them not even people
you’d consider strange.
All the rowdy classroom clowns
who made you laugh in school
still pull the same olé pranks in here
still disobey the rules.
They do their best to pass the time
and make each other laugh,
by poking fun at everyone
and laughing at the staff.
They aren’t out to hurt each other
just because they’re here,
and don’t know why the public looks
at prison walls with fear.
We’re still the same olé people
that we were when we came in.
We’ll be the same olé people
when we walk your streets again.
Any group of people will have
bad as well as good,
and just because you’re not in prison
doesn’t make you good.
So don’t just lock us up in here
and throw away the key.
Treat us like we’re valuable
and valuable we’ll be
(by Danny Matthews)
DannyBoyinExile 