why keep people in prison
for their whole life wasting away
when they could be going through
mandatory flight training
for a one-way trip to deep space

who wouldn't want to do that?
people would commit felonies
just to be chosen; & everyone
would understand: like, why did
he **** his whole family? -
he wanted to go into space; oh..

no volunteers will be accepted:
[I've been trying to get into solitary
for years, but they won't let me;
seems u can't just walk up to a cop & say,
I'd like to go to jail please; doesn't work;
u might get into the nut house,
which is okay for bed rest, narcotics & casual ***,
but if u want to relax & just read,
                    it's annoyingly rigid;
solitary confinement would be more spiritual;
  isolation, darkness, light, self, emptiness;
living inside a stone cube, just meditating;
day in day out night after night of pure consciousness -

one-way space travel would certainly build character;
       if u want to live;
       & not self-destruct;
the longer u're out there
     the more advanced earth technology becomes
until one day when u're so far out
u can't see the Milky Way, a Space Agent arrives
to check up on u  & bring much desired supplies;
"What's **** look like now?"
"What?"
"How much time has passed on earth?"
Temporal equation:     the mechanical man speaking
in computer code replies: translating light
into quanta,    distorting time so the curious prisoner
can see in virtual 3D artificial reality; so much time
elapsed he can't understand a thing; language purely
visual,       people silent;
moving    & not moving
but drifting in & out,  coming
& going;     transient shadows
indistinguishable from the
   advertising background;
back in the comfort of cramped life-support,
  wide electronic-data screen
windows,    mechanical man implants
the virtual reality device all creatures
have now;  download completely liberating
  the body from mind functioning in its own
sphere;         ****** functions taken over by
         nanocurcuitry imparting semblance
of spacial autonomy, electrified zombies;
as one after another pulls his plug.