By C1 Staff
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The co-writer of hit songs found himself in jail, though not for commiting a crime – instead, he taught songwriting to six Hill Detention Center inmates.
The classes will end on Monday, when Tom Douglas and the inmates he’s been teaching will record the song they’ve been working on.
Each inmate has contributed four lines, centered around a chorus that focuses on being a “life soldier.”
“These guys are writing from a depth that is really uncommon, just because they have experienced more in their lives than most people They’ve experienced more in just a few years than most people will ever experience in a lifetime,” Douglas told The Tennessean.
One inmate’s lines were:
“Becoming a nightmare from invading a home / now a six-year sentence to think about it alone / just to see and hear the fear in his face / makes me want to turn away from this life of disgrace.”
Another inmate said that he believed the more creative they could become, the better chance they had of turning their lives around once they were released.