The Last Act of Defiance

"The prison system, inherently unjust and inhumane is the ultimate expression of injustice and inhumanity in the society at large. Those of us on the outside do not like to think of wardens and guards as our surrogates, yet they are. And they are intimately locked in a deadly embrace with their human captives behind prison walls. By extension, so are we. A terrible double meaning is thus imparted to the original question of human ethics; 'Am I my brother's keeper?'"

The second of February, 1980
Began three days of misery
A scene of retaliation
Epitomising violence, horror, and vindication
Thieves, murderers, and rapists
Inundated their prison like homicidal sadists
Guards and convicts alike would pay the price
To them the electric chair
Would look like paradise!
Only degradation, torture, and cremation would suffice!

A sea of agony rolled in
Like the coming of the tide
The more fortunate escaped the insanity
Through suicide
The screams of the dying
Would haunt the living to the grave
Survivors of the riot
Relive the nightmare every day!

The last act of defiance!
The last act of defiance!

With a never-ending appetite
Barbiturates set them off like dynamite
Eradicating informants
Acetylene torches dealt the punishment
Melted from skin to bone
The fire silenced their screams to moans
Smoke filled the air from bodies set aflame
Begging for mercy, but their words
Were spoken in vain!
They weren't allowed to perish until they cherished all the pain!

A sea of agony rolled in
Like the coming of the tide
The more fortunate escaped the insanity
Through suicide
The screams of the dying
Would haunt the living to the grave
Survivors of the riot
Relive the nightmare every day!

The last act of defiance!
The last act of defiance!

[Instrumental Break]

Guards they had taken hostage
Were to blame for pushing them over the edge
Their brutality would be their demise
Like sharks in a frenzy they lashed out at their prize
When the madness had ended
The gore was too intense to be comprehended
No one explained the real reason why
For cruelty of a few
So many should die
They knew of the flaw
But still insist the cause was justified!

A sea of agony rolled in
Like the coming of the tide
The more fortunate escaped the insanity
Through suicide
The screams of the dying
Would haunt the living to the grave
Survivors of the riot
Relive the nightmare every day!

The last act of defiance!
The last act of defiance!