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Locked in was a program broadcast on 4ZZZ, and around the country, in 1995-1996. It's main aim was to give a voice to prison inmates throughout Australia, as well as to inform all of us about the important issues facing those involved in the corrective services - in what ever capacity.
As part of giving prisoners a voice - in perhaps their only way of communicating to an outside world they are banned from speaking directly through the media, Locked In ran a prisoners poetry section. Inmates were asked to submit poems to the program, a selection of which were broadcast over air. The poems presented in the anthology are just some of those submitted for the Locked In program.
Below is one of the poems included in 'Words from the INSIDE".
My cell can be a lonely place,
With no one there for me,
The shadows dance across the walls,
There, for me to see.
Sometimes I sit at my desk and write,
To my family far away,
Some of them are in Newcastle,
And some are in Nelson Bay.
I hate to go to bed at night,
In case of I don't know what,
When I sleep, I always dream,
I rarely remember of what.
I'M always drenched in sweat,
I don't know if it's from fear,
I just know that I couldn't stand it,
If it went on year after year.
There's so many girls to live with,
Every nationality and creed,
Some are really very nice,
Others, a different breed.
We don't have any choice,
With who we share our space,
Here we're just a number,
We're just another case.
There's always some sort of drama,
Usually, over trivial things,
You learn to cruise along with it,
And see what tomorrow brings.
You have to learn to do your own goal,
And do it the best you're able,
Anyone who says that's hard,
Is spinning you a fable.
There are lots of things to do in here,
To help the time go fast,
You just have to look to the future,
And make the past, the past,
You learn some things to help you,
Some things, you'll never learn,
You just have to keep confidences,
And people's trust you will earn.
One day the time will come,
When you're ready for your release,
By this time you will have learned,
To steer clear of the police.
Make sure, that if you do wrong,
That you never, ever get caught,
For surely if you do,
It's MULAWA you've bought.
Now we come to the visits,
What a humiliating trip,
Before and after this exercise,
They completely make you strip.
When you sit with your family,
They're forever on the prowl,
There's not one shred of privacy,
It's enough to make you howl.
You come back to your wing,
More depressed than before,
You start thinking that the system,
Is rotten to the core.
You take out pen and paper,
And write to those you love,
No one knows what you are thinking,
Except the Lord above.
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