15/11/2019
I don’t know why
But I try to save them
I see them come and go
The revolving door
Staggering rate of recidivism
So I ask them
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Most haven’t ever thought about it
Living in the moment
No time for consequences
I see them
As they grow their rats tails
Cover themselves with unfinished jail tattoos
Try heroin for the first time
And chase anything
That takes the pain away
It breaks my heart
To see the light of youth
Slowly leave them
Left behind in the concrete cells
When I would love to have
The same second chance
And it’s really me
That needs the saving
But still I try
I don’t know why
To break the cycle
Of pain and regret
—
One thing you notice if you do enough time is that the same people come and go again and again. Many of them lose most of their twenties and thirties before they eventually get tired or overdose or blessedly come good and get their lives together. It was a mystery to me why people, after experiencing the horror of jail would risk coming back just for fast cash or chemically induced highs.
The sad part is that jail is a relief for some from the chaos of their lives on the outside and that the more jail they do the less they fear it. Institutionalization and addiction is the never ending cycle that sees so many in and out of jail and achieving little.
I don’t why but I’m programmed to attempt to talk some sense into career crims, outline the benefits of legally earned money and all the amazing things the outside world had to offer but it seems to have little effect.
God help these desperate men.
