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Fugazi Banter: Prisons

A black and white flier that says: "Build community not prisons, a ralley to end the drug wa with speakers from equal justice USA, american civil liberties union, coalition to end gun violence, drug policy foundation, and music and words from fugazi.
Flyer for Fugazi's performance at Malcolm X Park. September 29, 1996.

Courtesy of Fugazi live series.

By Dr. Rami Toubia Stucky

Introduction

Explore the Series

Between the late 1980s and early 2000s, punk band Fugazi played several times at DC-area parks. Many of their live shows were recorded by fans and then made available. These recordings not only capture Fugazi’s music. You can also hear bandmembers Ian MacKaye, Joe Lally, Brendan Canty, Guy Picciotto, and Jerry Busher address the crowd. Sometimes they prepared monologues or spun off into impromptu musings. Other times they invited guest speakers and activists such as Mark Andersen on stage. What was said was almost always political, though.

Check out the Rest of the Six-Part Series

This page is part of a six-part series that looks at the concerns of DC punks firsthand. Use the links to the right to explore the rest of the series.

Stay here to listen to band members talk about the conditions at the Lorton Reformatory and the prison industrial complex.

Performing at Lorton Prison

A gratssy courtyard within an imposing brick building.
Lorton Reformatory, now decommissioned. Photograph taken September 14, 2020.

Antony-22, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

  • Fugazi: Lorton Prison | September 29, 1996 - Malcolm X Park

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        An excerpt from the banter in between songs at a September 1996 Fugazi concert held in Malcolm X Park. Singer Ian MacKaye shares a story of performing in a D.C. prison.

        Audio Transcript

      “Uhm. We’d like to take this chance to thank Positive Force and, uh, Mark Andersen for setting up this event for us. A lot of Christmases ago––probably four or five––uhm, Marc and Positive Force managed to set up a show for us over at Lorton, uhm, in the prison here in DC. And, uh, we did this show––it was one of the more difficult gigs we’ve ever had to do. They took away all our ChapStick at the door. And they, uh, pretended they didn’t know anything about the concert when we showed up. But we managed to weasel our way in and we did the gig. And, uh, one thing that struck me was, uh, kind of an obvious thing was when we drove there, we passed a sign for the landfill. And the whole time we were in the prison all you could smell was burning garbage––the whole time you were there. And it uh,––it’s kind of an obvious metaphor for the way they treat the people that they put in there.”

      Explanation:

      Lorton Reformatory was originally called the District of Columbia Workhouse. It opened in 1910 as part of the Progressive era’s reformist movement. There were no walls and the layout and buildings resembled a college campus. People convicted of minor crimes learned life skills such as bricklaying and carpentry. Positive social interaction was promoted.

      That progressive spirit quickly waned. In 1917, a group of suffragists joined the women’s population at Lorton. They were given inadequate food and beaten during what is called the “Night of Terror.” In 1930, the complex began to add walls. Officials started building solitary confinement blocks and barbed wire as well.

      A guitarist in a suit and top hat sings into a microphone on stage.
      Chuck Brown performing in January 2011.

      David from Washington, DC, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

      Chuck Brown, future pioneer of DC’s local gogo music scene, was imprisoned at Lorton. He managed to benefit from some vestiges of the facility’s reformist era. Some of his fellow inmates used to play guitar with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and other big band leaders. “I used to sit there and watch those guys and they’d show me a few chords and I never forgot what they showed me because I never learned how to read music,” Brown recalled.1

      In 1962, a band formed within Lorton called the DC Band. Brown was an original member. Comprised of 14 inmates, the band used instruments that belonged to the Department of Corrections. Others were donated by nearby military groups. They practiced on the recreation field at Lorton for nearly two years. By 1964, the band had received excellent reviews. It also featured a choir that included women who were also interned. The DC Band performed at several venues and conferences throughout the District. Brown arranged all the group's music.2

      Conditions at Lorton unfortunately did not improve by the 1970s. In 1974, 100 armed inmates took 10 guards hostage. In 1986, inmates set 14 buildings on fire. Congress began conducting hearings about the prison in the 1990s. The perimeter walls were crumbling. Guard towers were abandoned. The security system often malfunctioned. Escapes and riots occurred too often. Inmates were murdered within the prison. Drugs were readily available. There were personnel shortages and those that worked were inadequately trained. In 1995, there were 7,300 people imprisoned in Lorton, 44 percent more than originally intended. Around 95 percent of those incarcerated were Black.3

      In late 2001, its prisoners were transferred and the prison closed for good.

      Incarceration and Gambling on the Rise

      A cartoon depicting a mass of people being ushered into a penitentiary by a giant hand labeled "Law", and slowly leaving the penitentiary to the same massive hand above a sign that says "ex convicts not wanted.
      Young, Art, Artist. The in and the out of our penal system.1909.

      Published by Keppler & Schwarzmann, Puck Building.

      • Fugazi: Bring Prisoners Books | August 26, 1999 - Fort Reno Park

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            An excerpt from the banter in between songs at an August 1999 Fugazi concert held in Fort Reno Park. Guy Picciotto celebrates efforts to bring prisoners books and denounces the prison industrial complex.

            Audio Transcript

          “We’d like to send this next song out to the DC Area Project to Bring Prisoners Books. Last year––Last year in America the two largest growth industries were gambling and prison construction. That is f*****g sick as s**t.

          Explanation:

          In 1999, there were nearly 1.9 million prisoners held in prisons and local jails. This meant that about one out of every 137 residents in the United States was incarcerated.

          There was an irony to these statistics. Between 1991 and 1998, the violent crime rate in the United States dropped twenty percent. Meanwhile, the number of people in prison rose 50 percent. Pair this with the immense costs. About $35 billion each year was spent on corrections during the 1990s. California alone spent $5.2 billion on construction between 1983 and 1998. The Corrections Corporation of America built a prison in the Mojave Desert for $100 million. The head of Wackenhut Corrections received a yearly salary in 1997 of around $366,000.4

          In the late 1990s the term “prison industrial complex” became popular. It riffed on the famous phrase coined by President Eisenhower. It described the process by which politicians used the fear of crime to receive votes. Impoverished rural areas boosted their economies by building prisons. Construction and surveillance companies prospered.5

          The less creative might adopt the term “gambling industrial complex” to describe a similar phenomenon occurring elsewhere. Like the military and prison industries, gambling was a cash cow. It generated $2.2 billion each year within the larger DC metropolitan area. In 1998, Virginia, Maryland, and DC spent $30 million on lottery advertising.

          Their advertisements attracted the area’s most vulnerable. During the mid-1990s, 61 percent of Virginia Lottery sales were made to just eight percent of all Virginians. Of those gamblers, 20 percent never finished high school. They spent an average of $47 on tickets every two weeks. That equated to more than $1,200 annually. One out of six gamblers had a household income of less than $15,000. About 13 percent of ticket purchasers took the money typically reserved for household expenses and gambled with them. Seven percent admitted lottery play caused family disagreements. Meanwhile, a study done by Harvard Medical School in the 1990s offered some forecasting. Around two percent of adults would have a serious gambling disorder during their lifetime. Almost four percent would have moderate gambling problems.6

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          Last updated: March 20, 2025