I like this song. Good job on portraying the feeling that everything you do in prison is being watched. Because you're right. everything done and said is heard and seen by someone unless one is very very careful to conceal it.


I've been in a number of prisons. Like you, as a visitor. I worked for a time with the Christian Motorcyclist's Association on the music and prison ministry teams. We partnered with Bill Glass International ministries and would work their prison events with them. Going into a maximum security prison with our bikes was eerie. We got searched, and the bikes were searched, and then after the bikes were parked where they instructed.... generally on the basketball court, the keys were "collected" for "safe keeping". Behind two different twenty foot high fences topped with razor wire, and guard towers, and confined to the yard with the inmates is a strange thing. Of the inmates in the yard, most were happy for the diversion but that's all it was. A small group wanted to talk about bikes and reminisce about the bike they had had. then there were the inmates who were pissed that we had parked our bikes on the basketball court and they couldn't play ball that day. At one state max, they kept the gangs isolated. They never allowed the gangs to eat together or be in the yard together. And we ate with them.... and yeah, that wasn't good. In fact, I offered something on my plate to the guy across the table, and the guy next to me stopped me, and said... "You don't want to do that.... I know you're a visitor, but they don't let us swap food". Seems that's one of the black market currencies in the place.... The guards even tried to make all of us visitors set together until I explained to the captain that we really preferred to be with the inmates and not each other.... the captain relented and let us spread out. We certainly shook things up a bit from their normal way of doing things that day.

For a time, I was also volunteering in the music ministry for our church team on a regular basis.... every 3rd Wed nite at a minimum security women's prison. That was almost fun. Certainly more relaxed than the mens facilities I had been in in the past.

While US prisons are bad.... the one in the Bahamas for the kids was the worst. On a mission trip there, I was assigned to the boys juvenile facility with a bunch of naive American teenagers. Talk about rough. Boys from 7 up to 16 were all together. They started their prison stay in solitary. A small completely dark cell. Not big enough to stand up in or lay down. And they were there for a week or two. The guards carried a 2 foot section of 3/4" PVC pipe. It was not uncommon to hear stories from the kids about getting a severe beating from the guards for misbehavior and infractions of the rules.

Back here in the states, a buddy of mine is serving time right now. He was a drummer in a few of the bands I played in. Long story so I will spare you the details. He was in a minimum security facility and a guard and he had a disagreement over the accusation from another inmate, and long story short, he ended up being moved to a medium facility and time added.

Enough on that.... it's depressing.

Good song FLoyd

You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.