Nathan Burl Cain (born July 2, 1942) is the commissioner of the

Mississippi Department of Corrections The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) is a state agency of Mississippi that operates prisons. It has its headquarters in Jackson. Burl Cain is the commissioner. History In 1843 a penitentiary in four city squares in central Jackson ...

and the former

warden A warden is a custodian, defender, or guardian. Warden is often used in the sense of a watchman or guardian, as in a prison warden. It can also refer to a chief or head official, as in the Warden of the Mint. ''Warden'' is etymologically identic ...

at the

Louisiana State Penitentiary The Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola, and nicknamed the "Alcatraz of the South", "The Angola Plantation" and "The Farm"Sutton, Keith "Catfish".Out There: Angola angling. ''ESPN Outdoors''. May 31, 2006. Retrieved on August 25, 2010. ...

at Angola in

West Feliciana Parish West Feliciana Parish (French: ''Paroisse de Feliciana Ouest''; Spanish: ''Parroquia de West Feliciana'') is a civil parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2010 census, the population was 15,625, and 15,310 at the 2020 census. ...

, north of

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-sma ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. He worked there for twenty-one years, from January 1995 until his resignation in 2016.

Biography

Cain was reared in Pitkin in

Vernon Parish Vernon Parish (French: ''Paroisse de Vernon'') is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 52,334. The parish seat is Leesville. Bordered on the west by the Sabine River, the parish was founde ...

in western

. He is the brother of

James David Cain James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

, a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives and the Louisiana State Senate,Ridgeway, James. ''

Mother Jones Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...

''. July/August 2011 Issue. p
"God's Own Warden"
Retrieved on March 23, 2013. and Alton Cain. Warden Cain holds a degree from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

criminal justice Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the Rehabilitation (penology), rehabilitation of o ...

from

Grambling State University Grambling State University (GSU, Grambling, or Grambling State) is a public historically black university in Grambling, Louisiana. Grambling State is home of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum and is listed on the Louisiana African American Herita ...

in Lincoln Parish. He began his career with the Louisiana branch of the

American Farm Bureau Federation The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), also known as Farm Bureau Insurance and Farm Bureau Inc. but more commonly just the Farm Bureau (FB), is a United States-based insurance company and lobbying group that represents the American agri ...

. He was appointed as the assistant secretary of agribusiness for the

Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections The Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPS&C) (French: ) is a state law enforcement agency responsible for the incarceration of inmates and management of facilities at state prisons within the state of Louisiana. The agency is headquart ...

. In 1981, he was appointed as the warden of the

Dixon Correctional Institute Dixon Correctional Institute (DCI) is a prison facility in Jackson, Louisiana. DCI, a facility of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, is approximately from Baton Rouge.Auditor says state paying too much by letting Angola warden live at DCI
" '' The Advocate''. February 7, 1997. Retrieved on February 3, 2011. "The state legislative auditor is questioning corrections officials for allowing two prison wardens to live off their prison grounds at extra cost to the state. But a top corrections official said the arrangement is fine. Warden Burl Cain of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola continues to live in the same house on the grounds of Dixon Correctional Institute where he lived while in his previous job as DCI warden." Until 2011, Cain served as the vice chairperson of the Louisiana Civil Service Commission.

Tenure at Angola

Louisiana State Penitentiary, also called

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

after the name of the slave plantation that formerly occupied its land, is the largest maximum-security prison in the United States. Many of the inmates are imprisoned for life or for equivalently long terms and are unlikely ever to be released. Warden Cain claims that under his tenure violent incidents decreased significantly among the inmate population as the prison transitioned to a model based on a Christian religious atmosphere and manual labor, enforced in part with threats of solitary confinement and other punishments. But his claims are highly disputed. During his tenure he became the most famous warden in U.S. history, but before he retired he also became one of the most controversial wardens in U.S. history. As warden, Cain created an exclusively Christian religious environment in which inmates who displayed adherence to the faith were rewarded and those who did not were punished. A branch of the

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Missions and evangelism are core focuses of the seminary. NOBTS offers doctoral ...

was established at Angola during Cain's tenure, one of the prison's eight churches. In August 2006, the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

filed a lawsuit accusing Warden Cain and the Louisiana state prison system of hindering a

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

inmate's access to religious texts. At least one Catholic inmate was also allegedly harassed for requesting to receive

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

while imprisoned on Death Row. Cain increased media access to the prison, and several documentaries were filmed at the prison during his tenure.''The Farm: 10 Down'' (2009), directed by Jonathan Stack He also established a

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

station at the prison and supported the newsmagazine and radio. Filmed events at the prison include the Angola Prison Rodeo, football, and boxing matches. Cain established a prison-run

hospice Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life by ...

program in 1997. In 2008, Cain became the longest-serving warden in the history of Angola. While at Angola, in September/October 2005, Cain also became the warden of

Camp Greyhound ''Camp Greyhound'' is the nickname of a temporary makeshift jail at the Greyhound Bus station next to the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal that was operational in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina of August 29, 2005. With local jails flooded ...

, a temporary jail in New Orleans in the aftermath of

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

. In 2016, when he resigned, the prison had 3,600 inmates on 18,000 acres. Gordon Russell and Maya Lau of '' The Advocate'' reported that Cain's salary, $167,211 per year was $30,000 higher than that of James LeBlanc, Secretary of the

Louisiana Department of Corrections The Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPS&C) (French: ) is a state law enforcement agency responsible for the incarceration of inmates and management of facilities at state prisons within the state of Louisiana. The agency is headquart ...

and a previous subordinate and personal friend of Cain. According to Russell and Lau, many observers said that Cain was ''de facto'' the head of the department.Russell, Gordon and Maya Lau.
Fall of Burl Cain: How 1 last side deal led to Angola warden undoing

Archive
. '' The Advocate''. December 10, 2015. Retrieved on April 15, 2016. In 2008 Cain said he supported continuing solitary confinement for the men known as the

Angola 3 The Angola Three are three African-American former prison inmates ( Robert Hillary King, Albert Woodfox, and Herman Wallace) who were held for decades in solitary confinement while imprisoned at Louisiana State Penitentiary (also known as Ang ...

, stating: Cain has been compared by both supporters and detractors to the ''

Dukes of Hazzard ''The Dukes of Hazzard'' is an American action comedy TV series that was aired on CBS from January 26, 1979 to February 8, 1985. The show aired for 147 episodes spanning seven seasons. It was consistently among the top-rated television series ...

'' character

Boss Hogg Jefferson Davis "J.D." Hogg, known as Boss Hogg, is a fictional character featured in the American television series ''The Dukes of Hazzard''. He was the commissioner of Hazzard County, and the county's political boss. Boss Hogg almost always wo ...

. In 2010, Cain was among the speakers in a series at Calvin College in

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. In December 2013, a federal judge ruled that death row at Angola is so hot during part of the year that the temperatures undermine the

Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Eighth Amendment (Amendment VIII) to the United States Constitution protects against imposing excessive bail, excessive fines, or cruel and unusual punishments. This amendment was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the ...

, which forbids "

cruel and unusual punishment Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase in common law describing punishment that is considered unacceptable due to the suffering, pain, or humiliation it inflicts on the person subjected to the sanction. The precise definition varies by jurisd ...

". The judge demanded a plan to cool death row. Prison officials appealed the order.

Resignation

Cain's resignation as warden came amid allegations about his private

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

dealings raised by '' The Baton Rouge Advocate''. The capital city newspaper claimed that Cain sold interest in land that he owned in West Feliciana Parish to two developers who were reportedly either family or friends of two Angola inmates incarcerated for conviction of murder. The state legislative auditor and the state Department of Public Safety & Corrections began investigations into the issue. In May 2016, Cain was exonerated of any wrongdoing, with respect to using his employees to perform home renovations. In January 2017, a separate report from the office of Daryl G. Purpera, the state legislative auditor, said that some ten correctional department employees performed work on Cain's private residence near

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

East Baton Rouge Parish East Baton Rouge Parish (french: Paroisse de Bâton Rouge Est) is the most populous parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2010 U.S. census, its population was 440,171, and 456,781 at the 2020 census. The parish seat is Baton Rouge, ...

. One worked for Cain for three weeks while on official duty at his regular state job. In addition to the labor which Cain received, the audit alleges that the former warden obtained appliances and furnishings, such as iron gates, and food and lodging at the penitentiary for a number of his relatives, mostly his children. Corrections Secretary

Jimmy LeBlanc James LeBlanc is an American actor. LeBlanc grew up in South Boston, and was educated at St. Augustine's and Matignon High School in Cambridge. He has worked as a boxer and sheet metal worker. Selected filmography * ''Gone Baby Gone'' as Chris ...

, Cain's long-term friend and business partner, said that Cain was "personally liable" for $20,000 for the costs of the food, lodging and gates; and that the department will file a

civil suit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil act ...

or seek

restitution The law of restitution is the law of gains-based recovery, in which a court orders the defendant to ''give up'' their gains to the claimant. It should be contrasted with the law of compensation, the law of loss-based recovery, in which a court o ...

if Cain faces prosecution in the matter. Cain discounted the findings of the Purpera report, saying it had misinterpreted his "creative" approach to handling his duties as warden. Cain claims to have transformed the long-running

Angola Prison Rodeo The Angola Prison Rodeo, staged at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, is the longest running prison rodeo in the United States. It is held on one weekend in April and on every Sunday in October. On each occasion, thousands of visitors enter the ...

into a self-sustaining facility, resulting in a financial windfall for the state. He also authorized the construction of five new chapels built with privately raised funds. Cain said that it was his

being creative and thinking outside the box that got me in trouble. These kinds of things discourage state employees from being
entrepreneurial Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
. … I stole nothing. I gave. … I should be tossed off rather than condemned.

Ultimately Cain was cleared by the Daryl Purpera investigation and by another probe into his activities by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections. Cain said that he never doubted that he would be cleared because he had stolen nothing, had merely "thought outside the box" to bring needed changes to the penitentiary. He said that prayers from his fellow Southern Baptists assured that he would receive justice in the investigations. The

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

for the Louisiana 20th Judicial District, Sam D'Aquilla, indicated that he would refer the case to a

grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...

Mississippi

As of 2020 he became the head of the

Governor of Mississippi A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Tate Reeves Jonathan Tate Reeves (born June 5, 1974) is an American politician serving as the 65th governor of Mississippi since 2020. A member of the Republican Party, Reeves served as the 32nd lieutenant governor of Mississippi from 2012 to 2020 and as ...

chose Cain as the agency head. In June 2020 a Mississippi legislative committee approved Cain's nomination. The

Mississippi Senate The Mississippi Senate is the upper house of the Mississippi Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The Senate, along with the lower Mississippi House of Representatives, convenes at the Mississippi State Capitol i ...

confirmed Cain that month.

Personal life

According to a biography by Ridgeway, Cain "enjoys hunting and traveling around the country on his

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

." Both he and his brother, former state senator James David Cain, are Republicans. Cain's eldest son, Nathan "Nate" Cain, II (born April 1967), and his younger son, Marshall Arbuthnot Cain (born October 1971), of

Ouachita Parish Ouachita Parish (French: ''Paroisse d'Ouachita'') is located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 160,368. The parish seat is Monroe. The parish was formed in 1807. Ouachita Parish i ...

, also have had careers with the Louisiana Department of Corrections. Cain, II, had advanced to become warden of

Avoyelles Correctional Center Raymond Laborde Correctional Center (RLCC), formerly Avoyelles Correctional Center (ACC), is a state prison of Louisiana, operated by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. It is located in unincorporated Avoyelles Parish, Louisi ...

in Cottonport, a facility since named for former state Representative Raymond Laborde of Marksville. He vacated the warden's position in Cottonport on May 24, 2016. Marshall Cain is a manager of Prison Enterprises. Cain's son-in-law, Seth Henry Smith, Jr. (born January 1974), of East Feliciana Parish, also works for the corrections department, as a "confidential assistant" to one of the appointed officials. Prior to Nate Cain's decision to resign from Avoyelles Correctional Center, his wife, the former Tonia Bandy, business manager of the prison and another top official, also stepped down. Tonia Cain's attorney cited her client's health issues as the principal reason for the resignation. Meanwhile, the state corrections department said that it had halted the construction of the "Ranch House" building at the Avoyelles prison, a structure for which some $76,000 had already been spent. Nate Cain had built an identical structure at the

C. Paul Phelps Correctional Center C. Paul Phelps Correctional Center (PCC) was a Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections prison for men, located in unincorporated Beauregard Parish, Louisiana, about north of DeQuincy and northwest of Lake Charles. The center was loc ...

in DeQuincy in Calcasieu Parish, where he was earlier the deputy warden. Nate and Tonia Cain divorced in 2017, and she resumed her maiden name of Bandy. She agreed to plea bargain and admitted to some of the seventeen wire fraud charges (and an additional count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud) in hopes of getting a lighter sentence than she would have received if convicted of the crimes. The two stood accused of purchasing personal items, including television sets,

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...

, and guns and ammunition, on a state credit card. As it developed, Bandy pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the federal corruption case against both her and her former husband. The government then dropped seventeen fraud charges pending against her. Sentencing was originally scheduled for October 9, 2018, with Tonia Cain facing up to twenty years in a penitentiary, though she was expected to receive a more lenient sentence. On June 17, 2019, Tonia Cain received an eight-month sentence in federal prison, while Nate Cain received a 38-month sentence in federal prison; both were also ordered to serve two years of supervised release and to pay more than $42,000 in restitution.

Representation in media

* ''The Execution of Antonio James'' (1996), documentary at LSP directed by

Liz Garbus Elizabeth Freya Garbus (born April 11, 1970) is an American documentary film director and producer. Notable documentaries Garbus has made are '' The Farm: Angola, USA,'' ''Ghosts of Abu Ghraib,'' ''Bobby Fischer Against the World,'' ''Love, Maril ...

and

Jonathan Stack Jonathan David Stack (born June 2, 1957) is an American documentary filmmaker. He is also a co-founder of World Vasectomy Day. Biography Born in New York City to a teacher and worker, Jonathan spent much of his childhood exploring. He took an e ...

* '' The Farm: Angola, USA'' (1998), documentary directed by Garbus and Stack * ''The Farm: 10 Years Down'' (2009), documentary directed by Stack * ''Serving Life'' (2011), documentary about LSP's

hospice care Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life by ...

of inmates, a program established in 1997. It is directed by journalist Lisa R. Cohen; the narrator and executive producer is Academy Award-winning actor

Forest Whitaker Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. After making his f ...

."'Serving Life': Facing Death, Inmates Find Humanity"
NPR: Tell Me More series, 19 October 2011; accessed 29 May 2017 * Appeared in Season 1, Episode 3 of the 2008 series: ''

Stephen Fry in America ''Stephen Fry in America'' is a six-part BBC television series in which Stephen Fry travels across the United States. In the six-part series he travels, mostly in a London cab, through all 50 of the U.S. state and Washington, D.C.. The episode ...

References

External links

Burl Cain quotes

Violence to Peace, A Conversation With Burl Cain
billygraham.org
Archive
*

Joel Stein Joel Stein (born July 23, 1971) is an American journalist who wrote for the ''Los Angeles Times''. He wrote a column and occasional articles for ''Time'' for 19 years until 2017. Early life Stein grew up in Edison, New Jersey, the son of a sale ...

.
The Lessons of Cain
" ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cain, Burl 1942 births American Christians American prison wardens Grambling State University alumni Living people Louisiana Republicans Louisiana State University of Alexandria alumni Penal system in Louisiana People from Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana People from East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana People from West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana People from Central, Louisiana People from Vernon Parish, Louisiana State cabinet secretaries of Mississippi Mississippi Republicans