We lock them up and throw away the key. If they rebel, they’re sent to solitary. And, there they sit, as they go slowly mad; and all because a warden said they’re bad. It’s time our prison system saw refinement. It’s time to outlaw solitaire confinement, and other kinds of torture and abuse that we inflict on those who “have no use”. Before a person earns a law degree, they should be forced to spend a month in solitary. Our politicians, judges, lawyers, cops are pretty good at pulling out all stops when bringing inmates, crushing, to their knees; and – since they never see their inhumanity, they rarely know the toll it takes to be imprisoned in one’s mind, in solitary. It’s easy just to say, “It’s time they should have served. And, as for their confinement, they got what they deserved. For them I have no sympathy. So let them rot in solitary.” To drive a person to insanity is nothing short of inhumanity. We have no right to criticize a terrorist or ISIS, as long as we do nothing to change our prison crisis. -RKO- #615 04-25-17 [Political Poetry by RKO now available at www.xlibris.com]