Billy Bragg - Rotting On Remand lyrics

I stood before the Judge that day

As he refused me bail

And I knew that I would spend my time

Awaiting trial in jail

I said there is no justice

As they led me out of the door

And the Judge said, "This isn't a court of justice, son

This is a court of law."

They first sent me to Windsor

And then to Stoke on Trent

In a holding cell in Liverpool

Three days and nights I spent

My solicitor can't find me

And my family don't know

I keep telling them that I'm innocent

They just say, "Come on son, in you go."

I was picked up on suspicion of something I haven't done

Here I sit in 'F' wing waiting for my trial to come

It's a cruel unusual punishment that society demands

Innocent till proven guilty, rotting on remand

I ended up in this jail

Built in 1882

When one man to one prison cell

Was a Victorian value

Now three of us are squeezed in here

And you can't escape the smell

Of that bucket in the corner

And we eat in here as well

They let me out of this cage

To slop that bucket out

To get my food and bring it back

And if I'm lucky, get a shower

Apart from one hour's exercise

I'm locked in here all day

You don't turn criminals into citizens

By treating them this way

Is the price of law and order the stench of Wormwood Scrubs

With judges quick to sentence more down from above

It's a cruel unusual punishment that society demands

Innocent till proven guilty, rotting on remand