Walker, Robert Joseph --- "Solitary Confinement (a poem from Freemantle Prison)" [1988] AboriginalLawB 6; (1988) 1(30) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 4

• Solitary Confinement

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Solitary Confinement

Robert Joseph Walker

Have you ever had to strip

Before half-a-dozen barking eyes,

Forcing you against a wall-

Ordering you to part your legs and bend over?

Have you ever had a door slammed

Locking you out of the world,

Propelling you into a timeless space-

To the emptiness of silence?

Have you ever laid on a wooden bed

In regulation pyjamas,

And tried to get a bucket to talk

In all seriousness?

Have you ever begged for blankets

From an eye staring through a hole in the door,

Rubbing at the cold air digging into your flesh-

Biting down on your bottom lip, while mouthing "Please, Sir"?

Have you ever heard screams in the middle of the night,

Or the sobbings of a stir-crazy prisoner,

Echo over and over again in the darkness-

Threatening to draw you into its madness?

Have you ever rolled up into a human ball

And prayed for sleep to come?

Have you ever laid awake for hours

Waiting for morning to mark yet another day of being alone?

If you've never experienced even one of these,

Then bow your head and thank god.

For it's a strange thing indeed-

This rehabilitation system!

Robert Joseph Walker died after a struggle with warders on 8 August 1984, in Fremantle Prison, WA.