Rough Justice
(Ballad of a Girl behind Bars)

Lyrics by Lauren Speeth and music by Josh Workman. Arranged by Alison Lewis.

    ...available now at CDBaby

Powerfully beautiful vocals by Alison Lewis contrasted against a harsh exposé of youth in the U.S. prison system. If this one young woman's story moves you, consider how many thousands of young children might be helped if we opened our hearts to different ways of nurturing them when they needed us. You can make a ripple - you can be a child advocate, you can vote your conscience, you can speak up... Do you know someone who is bravely tackling the problem of 'rough justice' who would welcome the dedication of this song to them? Why not let us know?

REF)  Rough justice, and we can do better
         Rough justice...its the spirit not the letter
         Rough justice, children learn what they live
         We must have something better to give

Well a girl needs options before it gets rough…
Somewhere to turn when the going gets tough.
What do we offer that's not streets,  jail or prison,   
Is it a school or asylum  we're missin'?
                            
Meds kept her mind up, from those bad places
...all those black eyes, bloody faces...
It was still hard,   but it kept the hardest memories  at bay
'til the warden - cold turkey - just took it away

REF)  Rough justice, and we can do better ...

Yea, the one who beat & raped her now is dead…
she did it... and  wishes sometimes he killed her instead
Hard time's a lifetime, sleep’s like a friend
waitin'  for a dream to free her again

REF)  Rough justice, and we can do better ...

Who wins and who loses when we make these deals
Swapping meds cold turkey? Who cares how it feels
When slavery wages making bras for a dime? 
She’s stopped growing up, now she's just doing time.

REF)  Rough justice, and we can do better ...

Ten thousand juvies  per mental health pro...
Two thirds have problems... or didn’t you  know?
Compassion is out, incarceration is in
it's an industrial complex, an obsession with sin... 

REF)  Rough justice, and we can do better ...

She’ll pay the cost - 18 years
She’ll pay the cost in cold angry tears
Good Lord loves even you, locked away there
Even when you think nobody, nobody cares... (we care)

REF)  Rough justice, and we can do better ...

Watch our forthcoming YouTUBE clip

A film by: Lauren Speeth. Edited, mixed and mastered by John Watkins. Barbed wire transformation concept:Josh Workman
Commodore Callahan stills courtesy BoysHopeGirlsHope.org, from June 4, 2009 fundraiser.

Studio recording, San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, September 2009, Commodore Callahan. Featuring Alison Lewis, vocals backed up by Josh Workman and Lauren Speeth, with Josh Workman, guitar, synth and Don Kane, bass. Mixing: Josh Workman and John Watkins. Mastering: John Watkins. Copyright 2009 Elfenworks Productions, LLC. All rights reserved.

*Coming Soon! **

*New Single! **

Love is Here ~ CD Track Listing