Eric Deason

It is designed to give some idea of the strength the soldiers have, and some idea of the pain they have lived with, said Eric Deason, art director of Design Display Inc., who created the monument.

The memorial is 14 feet wide and 18 feet tall and looks like a giant shard of shattered glass punctuated by bullet holes, but it is actually made of aluminum.The prisoners' names are engraved on the shard.The shattering stands for the broken lives; the metal for power.

"It's jarring but not offensive," Deason said."People can take their own ideas away from it."

Hospital officials had originally thought the monument should be names behind prison bars, but after Deason made a model, the original design seemed too startling, Deason said.The final design had subtle meanings the first design couldn't manage, he said.

Eric Deason - Art Director