“No one – not even the government itself – has ever been able to specify with any certainty the precise number of federal crimes defined … in the 27,000 or so pages of the U.S. Code.” In the 1980s, lawyers at the Department of Justice estimated that the criminal code contained 3,000 crimes. Today, the Heritage Foundation estimates the federal laws currently enumerate nearly 5,000 crimes, a number that grows every year.
Holly Harris, Executive Director of the U.S. Justice Action Network, told Foreign Affairs Magazine in “The Prisoner Dilemma” March /April 2017 www.ForeignAffairs.com
The Folsom population was over 4,000 then
Today it is caging nearly 3,000 men
Some rehabilitated, some condemned
And many dire problems have stemmed
The Folsom cages do not discriminate
Blacks, White, Mexicans and others are all inmates
It does not matter ignorant or highly educated
Violating the law of society will not be tolerated
“Lock them Up is society’s slogan
Weeding out trouble is the community solvent
Tough on crime is a politician’s ingredient
And laws are passed based on fear and resentment
The Folsom Cage hold a variety of offenders
Thieves, robbers, gang members and murderers
Drug dealers, wife beaters, and back stabbers
Drunk drivers, purse snatchers, and three strikers.
Folsom inmates are considered society rejects
Maybe we grew up where rules were not respected
Outlawing turned out to be our favorite subject
Fast Money and fame became the main objectives
A few with good background are also caged here
Doctors, businessmen, mechanics, and engineers
Graduated with A.A. Master, or Doctor Degrees
Still in the Folsom Cages and could be free.
Folsom does not have electric fences
Just gates, towers and razor wire fences
We feel trapped when the doors are keyed
And along sentences overshadowed us with anxiety.
Dreaming of the day you be back in society
For now, stuck in Folsom Cages is our reality
Some are still angry, and some make amends
Tough words and mean faces; maybe we just pretend
As we wake up to the morning light
We see ourselves enduring this fight
Folsom Cages is when we spend each night
Hope is the only thing we hold onto tight.
By Noodles/Pham J93364
Folsom State Prison
P.O. Box 715071-Bldg: 5 Bed: 30
Repreas, CA 95671
“if y’all think I did it…just give me a lawyer, dawg, ‘cause this is not what’s up.”Warren Demesme said during police questioning.The Louisiana Supreme Court held that this reference was too ambiguous to count as a request for counsel.REASON Magazine, January 2018
73 percent of Alabama is within a drug-free zone, defined as extending three miles from schools, colleges and housing complexes and resulting in a five- year enhancement. REASON Magazine, January 2018
