Busting Through Walls

Imagine being in prison.

You’re facing years and years behind bars. Maybe the rest of your life.

It would be hard not to feel depressed, angry…and hopeless.

Those feelings – combined with a complete loss of freedom – are what causes the friction, gangs and death so often seen in a prison setting.

And unless it’s a fairly enlightened facility, prison is a place where there’s usually little constructive to do other than mark the days off the calendar.

But Colorado is trying something new.

And it’s an amazing thing: The Colorado prison system – along with the University of Denver Prison Arts Initiative – just launched the FIRST statewide radio station run by inmates.

Called “Inside Wire,” the station broadcasts 24/7 to other state incarceration facilities.

And to The Outside World.

With the launch, once-silent inmates now have a VOICE.

I don’t care what your philosophy is about prison. Whether it’s a liberal view: That being behind bars should be rehabilitative -- and possibly redemptive. Or if it’s a conservative view: That anyone sent to prison should just rot there without any hope of turning their lives around.

With the launch of this inmate-run station (which is closely monitored by prison authorities who can pull the plug on it at any moment if need be), inmates can listen to music, news, prison-prepared stories, and talk to each other in a non-threatening format.

Yes, previously depressed, angry and hopeless inmates can now have their thoughts and feelings heard.

Is this new concept without potential issues?

Of course not.

Undoubtedly, problems will arise that will have to be ironed out as with any radically new enterprise.

But just consider what it COULD do:

Let prisoners know what’s going on around them.

Make them feel less alone, and less prone to join a gang to have others like them with whom to relate.

Reduce inside-prison violence.

Share their music.

Maybe learn a trade they can use when/if they get out.

And feel like a human being again.

Prisons are like little towns – but with bars and guards. There’s lots going on in these little communities, but mostly it’s just rumor and gossip. That won’t end with a radio station, but it could go a long way to letting inmates know what’s really happening in their little isolated world.

And that they can reach out and really communicate with each other without the attitude and macho bravado that usually overwhelms positive interactions inside, where a loss of freedom and individuality takes a terrible toll.

Yes, people in prison need to serve their time and pay their debt to society – especially if they’re inside for a violent crime.

But now – for the very first time – lost souls can be heard outside their walls and across the world via the Internet and not just be locked away in silence and forgotten.

And given a chance for hope – and redemption.