Judge hasn’t even convicted me yet, just too poor to post bail
I always heard “inocent until proven guilty”
But no one ever told me “locked up for a fee”
These prisons are just a way to have legalized slavery
In a land that prides itself on being free
Slowly removing those who look like you and me, from democracy

I sit in a cell with dirt covered walls and steel doors uncontrolled by me
As I wait for my trial date
Each hour begins to fade into the next as time slowly grinds
Second by second
Ticking
Away
My
Life

I have paced back and foward so many times that a grove resides in the concrete floor

Finally the doors unlock
I step out to be counted like a sheep
Then they march us around like animals
Some days they let us out for just a moment in time
Not enough to let my mind be free
but just enough for me to be reminded
That they own me

The only way to survive in this place is to become apart of the world they tell you to avoid
They don’t give us any other option

They proudly tell us about the 95% return rate on their multi billion dollar industry
Divided by skin tone or what America defines as race
I find a place to belong

Blacks and the Mexicans always have the largest numbers
What some see as an advantage is only by design

They don’t care what we do to each other in these walls
Their is always another body waiting to fill these rooms

At night when I lay my head down I think about a multitude of things as my mind never feels at ease
I’m worried I won’t make it out of here alive
Names like sandra bland and kalief browder come to mind
Not only do I have to worry about those behind the gates but also the ones who control them

When I finally get to see the judge my charges will never match my crime

I have seen too many of my brothers and sisters punished much harsher compared to those with whiter skin
Even though they commit as many crimes as anyone else

I didn’t make the rules but they do exist
a legalized system created to keep bodies locked up and swallowed by a cycle

Ain’t no such thing as rehabilitation behind these walls just bodies in jail cells