A Collection About the Cycle of Incarceration in America: My First Time In, The Cycle Continues
A collection about a person who was a teenager when they went into prison. We see two sides of them: the angry teenager he was back when they went in and the adult who knows the game in the present day. The teenager is aware of the street and the danger that it had and their life started out in a positive way but as life happens and things change that are out of their control they move with it. Sometimes moving with it is moving in a negative direction that one can’t turn back from. When they get out, they stand in the street of where they called home and realize that the prison system is not set up for rehabilitation but rather for failure. How do you succeed? How do you not become of the revolving door? Has anything changed? ***Performer has author’s permission to edit as needed to fit male or female performers. ***
Cycle of Incarceration in America
First thing they asked was what got me to this point
This moment in my life
Where time seems to be standing still
While the world is moving around me
And I’m just standing there
Right hand right finger and so on
Left hand left finger and so on
Right profile- flash
Left profile- flash
Hold the number a little higher
Mr. Jones is now Mr. 193082
No name
No more names in the world of the prison system
Three strikes and you’re out they say
Babe never knew these streets like I do
Jackie never had to run around the bases of the projects just to take another breath
This isn’t a game
In a game someone wins
Someone comes out on top
In this game everyone loses
People go to jail
Other people supervise the people in jail
People wait for their family member to get out of jail
Not a win win
We all lose.
Everyone wants to know
Asking all of those questions
When you’ve never been in
You don’t understand the path
How did you become a teacher?
How did you become a doctor?
How did you become…an inmate?
How did you become a felon?
No one wants to tell the truth
It’s like we either hoping someone else does something
Stupid so we won’t be locked up alone