Chain gang

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Permalink Reply by Alix on July 11, 2008 at 9:45am

Hmm.... that is interesting. I'm not quite sure how to feel about that. I believe that the prison systems are absolutely ludacris. My question is why were all of them black? Why would the prison decide to put an all black group with a white boss? Maybe they didn't think about it; prisoners are just prisoners to them. I think that prisons should be more focused on reforming their inmates rather than reprimanding them or allowing them to simply just waste away time. What is the purpose of locking up criminals (some of which aren't really criminals at all) and letting them wait out their time, only to be pushed back into society, unchanged whatsoever. Reform.

Permalink Reply by Michael Levin on July 13, 2008 at 10:10am

I think you're right, Alix. The prison probably didn't think about putting an all black group with a white boss.



Johnny Stallings is an actor and works in the prison in the northwest USA. He leads a group of prisoners that meets regularly to talk about poetry, spirituality and feelings. That's pretty unusual when you consider how tough it is inside a prison. His performance called "Silence" is nearly an hour spoken compilation of quotes from many plays, poems and sources you'd probably recognize like Greek mythology that he recites from memory. His website is worth reading carefully, in my opinion. Another interesting question might be what will get through to people who are in prison. My guess is that Johnny gets through.