Lines between the have and have-nots in America are rarely drawn as vividly or so unfairly than those chalked up in its criminal justice system. Get with the program, whatever life hands you, or become a number the system draws upon when budgets are crunched.<\/p>\n
Too many Americans habitually reserve a jaded reverence for renters at the top of the heap; smugly extract stench tolls from those caught beneath its transient weight. <\/p>\n
Al Tompkins<\/a> links to this AP report<\/a> describing what some have-nots in Arkansas are looking forward to this Christmas.<\/p>\n ‘Special favours’ include two apples, two oranges, and a $5 dollar bill; a ‘traditional’ holiday meal and the day off for most from work duties. These ‘humane’ gestures are paid for with fees collected from telephone calls and confiscated monies. <\/p>\n Visits from loved ones and their gifts are taboo. Carolers from religious groups in the community are welcomed.<\/p>\n If small towns in Arkansas are a reflection of the rural communities I know and love at least a few of those yuletide singers will have histories that rival some of the inmates they entertain. It wasn’t faith in God that kept them from sharing a prisoner’s fate. More than likely it was an exchange of words and money with the Asst. DA over drinks at the local tavern.<\/p>\n Hallelujah.<\/p>\n Florida’s Governor Jeb Bush has dedicated the country’s first faith-based prison in a ceremony attended by nearly 800 inmates of 26 faiths.<\/p>\n Lawtey Correctional Institution<\/a>:<\/p>\n It’s ironic that affirmative action of this sort is championed so often by the right. It’s obscene that a patriarch with Jeb Bush’s familial history would be the one to lord over its inception.<\/p>\n I don’t suggest that faith can’t be a sustaining comfort to those who are experiencing rough times.<\/p>\n But prayer alone won’t conjure the jobs that might keep some from committing crimes, or produce the necessities that enable us to sustain employment, like affordable housing, reliable transportation, and child care.<\/p>\n It won’t purchase a stay in expensive rehabilitation facilities or even more importantly, a favourable ruling from the local judge so we might have that option.<\/p>\n And it won’t convince the decision makers in Arkansas that absent a visit from loved ones that would compromise their employees’ holiday season, a concert that includes songs by John Prine would be much more humane than yet another chorus of ‘Away In A Manger’ imparted by the local hypocrites.<\/p>\n Christmas In Prison<\/a><\/p>\n It was Christmas in prison Chorus: She reminds me of a chess game Chorus:<\/p>\n The search light in the big yard Chorus:<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lines between the have and have-nots in America are rarely drawn as vividly or so unfairly than those chalked up in its criminal justice system. Get with the program, whatever life hands you, or become a number the system draws … Continue reading
\nand the food was real good
\nwe had turkey and pistols
\ncarved out of wood
\nand I dream of her always
\neven when I don’t dream
\nher name’s on my tongue
\nand her blood’s in my stream.<\/p>\n
\nWait awhile eternity
\nold mother nature’s got nothing on me
\ncome to me
\nrun to me
\ncome to me, now
\nwe’re rolling
\nmy sweetheart
\nwe’re flowing
\nby God!<\/p>\n
\nwith someone I admire
\nor a picnic in the rain
\nafter a prairie fire
\nher heart is as big
\nas this whole goddamn jail
\nand she’s sweeter than saccharine
\nat a drug store sale.<\/p>\n
\nswings round with the gun
\nand spotlights the snowflakes
\nlike the dust in the sun
\nit’s Christmas in prison
\nthere’ll be music tonight
\nI’ll probably get homesick
\nI love you. Goodnight.<\/p>\n