TERMINAL is a song about Death by Incarceration (DBI) also known as life without parole; Pennsylvania is a state that enforces sentences of life without parole otherwise known as death by incarceration.
Written By: Robert LaBarr and Cody Stuhltrager (Prisoners of SCI Phoenix – aka Graterford)
Performed by artist: Andrew Lipke of Philadelphia, Pa
Facilitated by: Emily Cooley
Video by: Maria Maneos
TERMINAL
get up when you fall, that’s what they always told me
destructive patterns drawn, got caught up in the fold
blind and reckless paths, fuses burnin’ slowly
destined for a crash, mourning and confusion
i wish these wounds would heal…
but it’s terminal, a spiraling distress, a never answered why
terminal, it’s one life laid to rest, and another cast aside
it’s the end of the line
the gavel falls, the sentence quells, the cries for justice, yet we dwell
on fragments of potential, shattered, born and battered by this hell
frozen places house the mem’ries of the lives before these crimes
frozen faces, online pages, locked in cages till they die
now tell me why
until they die
and we all go blind…
terminal, screamin’ out for love, but no one hears me cry
terminal, nothing is enough, no matter how hard I try
still it’s the end of…
the way things were, we can’t go back, seasons pass, but still within my mind
you have been right here with me, all these years I’ve spent inside
the sleepless nights, the tears I’ve cried, I’ve put to work these weathered hands of time
ensuring that you won’t get left behind
ensuring that your mem’ry’s kept alive…
it’s terminal, we’re screamin’ out for mercy, but no one hears our cry
terminal, nothing is enough, no matter how hard we try
denial of redemption anywhere, is a threat to justice ev’rywhere, but they say their hands are tied
the cycle is sustained by suffering, to balance death they bury one alive, it’s people in despair
systematic stones cast down, distort the justice they claim to provide, moralities collide
paralyzed progress, caught in no man’s land, this burden we can’t bear, doesn’t anybody care…
that with one eye for an eye
little pieces of us die
so let’s abolish DBI…
