Hope for the wrongly convicted.
False confessions
coerced confessions
eyewitness misidentifications
forensic science errors
public defenders inexperience.
Cell doors clang shut
futures stunted
tears long since evaporated
possibilities suffocated
except
the Innocence Project has my name.
Written for Tuesday Poetics at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe. Today Melissa asks us to consider the song, “Folsum Prison Blues”, written and performed by Johnny Cash. The first four lines of the song are
“I hear the train a-comin’,
it’s rolling ’round the bend
And I ain’t seen the sunshine
since I don’t know when.”
Melissa asks us to write a poem inspired by the song….and by Johnny Cash actually going to Folsum Prison and singing to the inmates.
The Innocence Project is an organization that works toward the release of prisoners who are wrongly accused and imprisoned for crimes. To date, their organization has succeeded in the release of 250 innocent prisoners. The Exonerated Five (formerly the Central Park Five) are some of the more famous individuals who benefited from their work.
Image by Daniel Vanderkin from Pixabay
lillian the home poet 
Lillian, “there’s a lot of it about” (wrongfully convicted.) I remember reading once where there are warehouses full of untested rape kits. I believe that a large percentage of those in prison don’t belong there and that there are too many walking free who need to be behind bars.
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Our grand daughter did her high school senior thesis on Justice and concentrated on the prison population. It pointed to socio-economic levels, whether one could afford a reputable attorney or had to use the public appointed one; neighborhood one lived in (she talked about Red Lining etc). It was fascinating to hear her then defend her paper with questions from a faculty panel.
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Sorry I missed this comment until now. Is your granddaughter going into the Justice field? I think you can gather a lot of conclusions by studying the adult incarcerated, but that socio-economic thing starts in the womb and carries through generation after generation. Believe it or not, a lot of people behind bars belong there. It’s just too bad that so many of them don’t belong there.
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This is very compelling
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The Innocence Project is a reputable organization….they’ve thus far freed 250 people from incarceration who were innocent.
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To be sent to prison for something you didn’t do has to be the worst thing you can do… for instance accepting a plea deal when there is a death sentence on the table.
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Exactly.
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Well done, Lillian. There is nothing worse that being forgotten in a cell and left there to wither and die! Glad there are people out there who are willing to take a second look!
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I’m glad to know the Innocence Project exists.
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You chose the perfect nonprofit to highlight, Lillian. The image you included, is stark and actually frightening. Criminal justice reform in the US is critical. Thanks for this [especially in our current state of affairs] important reminder.
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I went to a couple different concerts of the same band recently. A folk punk band, and the lead singer is in recovery. She donates a lot of the money from her shows to the Lancaster Bail Fund that raises money to help people disproportionately affected by cash bail get out of prison. It’s a great cause.
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The Innocence Project is badly needed. I’m glad they exist.
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I like the way the bookend lines are of hope, imprisoning the hard truths within their walls. Excellent 👏
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