Negative Space: prisons
- The Ballad of Reading Gaol
- Written during Wilde’s time in prison. “He did not wear his scarlet coat, for blood and wine are red…”
- I
- “He did not wear his scarlet coat, for blood and wine are red…”
- II
- “Six weeks the guardsman walked the yard, in the suit of shabby gray…”
- III
- “In Debtors’ Yard the stones are hard, and the dripping wall is high…”
- IV
- “There is no chapel on the day on which they hang a man…”
- V
- “I know not whether Laws be right, or whether Laws be wrong…”
- VI
- “In Reading gaol by Reading town there is a pit of shame…”
More Information
- The Beholden State
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“Back in 1980, when the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA) won the right to represent prison guards in contract negotiations, it was a small fraternal organization of about 1,600 members. But as California’s inmate population surged and the state went on a prison-building spree—constructing 22 new institutions over 25 years—union membership expanded to 17,000 in 1988, 25,000 by 1997, and 31,000 today. Union resources rose correspondingly, with a budget soaring to $25 million or so, supporting a staff 70 deep, including 20 lawyers.”
“Deploying those resources, the union started to go after politicians who…”
