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 ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Outdoors''. May 31, 2006. Retrieved on August 25, 2010.) is a

maximum-security Maximum security prisons and supermax prisons are grades of high security level used by prison systems in various countries, which pose a higher level of security" \n\n\nsecurity.txt is a proposed standard for websites' security information that is ...

prison farm A prison farm (also known as a penal farm) is a large correctional facility where penal labor convicts are forced to work on a farm legally and illegally (in the wide sense of a productive unit), usually for manual labor, largely in the open ai ...

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 ...

operated by 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 ...

. It is named "Angola" after the former

slave plantation A slave plantation was an agricultural farm that used enslaved people for labour. The practice was abolished in most places during the 19th century. Slavery Planters embraced the use of slaves mainly because indentured labor became expensive ...

that occupied this territory. The plantation was named after the country of Angola from which many slaves originated before arriving in

. Angola is the largest maximum-security prison in the United States with 6,300 prisoners and 1,800 staff, including corrections officers,

janitor A janitor (American English, Scottish English), also known as a custodian, porter, cleanser, cleaner or caretaker, is a person who cleans and maintains buildings. In some cases, they will also carry out maintenance and security duties. A simil ...

maintenance Maintenance may refer to: Biological science * Maintenance of an organism * Maintenance respiration Non-technical maintenance * Alimony, also called ''maintenance'' in British English * Champerty and maintenance, two related legal doct ...

, and wardens. Due to these large numbers, it has been given the nickname "a

gated community A gated community (or walled community) is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences ...

". Located 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. ...

, the prison is set between

oxbow lakes An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called '' resacas''. In Australia, oxbow lakes are calle ...

on the east side of a bend of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

, thus flanked on three sides by water. It lies less than south of Louisiana's straight east-west border with

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. The of land the prison sits on what was known before the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

as the Angola Plantations and was owned by

Isaac Franklin Isaac Franklin (May 26, 1789 – April 27, 1846) was an American slave trader and plantation owner. He was the co-founder of Franklin & Armfield, which became the largest slave trading firm in the United States. Based in Alexandria, Virginia, i ...

. The prison is located at the end of

Louisiana Highway 66 Louisiana Highway 66 (LA 66) is a state highway located in southeastern Louisiana. It runs in a general east–west direction from the main entrance of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola to a junction with U.S. Highway 61 (US ...

, around northwest of St. Francisville.

Death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

for men and the state

execution chamber An execution chamber, or death chamber, is a room or chamber in which capital punishment is carried out. Execution chambers are almost always inside the walls of a maximum-security prison, although not always at the same prison where the death r ...

for women and men are located at the Angola facility.

History

Picking cotton, Angola State Farm (circa 1900)

River Boat America with Convicts for Angola

Quarters C at the Louisiana State Penitentiary (circa 1901)

Angola Prison -- Leadbelly in the foreground

Before 1835, state inmates were held in a jail in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. The first Louisiana State Penitentiary, located at the intersection of 6th and Laurel streets in

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 ...

, was modeled on a prison in Wethersfield, Connecticut. It was built to house 100 convicts in cells of by . In 1844 the state leased operation of the prison and its prisoners to McHatton Pratt and Company, a private company. During the

, Union soldiers occupied the prison in Baton Rouge. In 1869 during the

Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...

, Samuel Lawrence James, a former

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

major, received the military lease to the future prison property along the Mississippi River. He tried to produce

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

with the forced labor of African Americans.History Of The Prison
" Louisiana State Penitentiary. Retrieved on August 24, 2010. The land that has been developed as Angola Penitentiary was purchased in the 1830s from Francis Rout as four contiguous plantations by

. He was a planter and

slave trader The history of slavery spans many cultures, nationalities, and Slavery and religion, religions from Ancient history, ancient times to the present day. Likewise, its victims have come from many different ethnicities and religious groups. The socia ...

, co-owner of the profitable slave trading firm

Franklin and Armfield The Franklin and Armfield Office, which houses the Freedom House Museum, is a historic commercial building in Alexandria, Virginia (District of Columbia retrocession, until 1846, the District of Columbia). Built c. 1810–20, it was first used ...

, of

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...

, and

Natchez, Mississippi Natchez ( ) is the county seat of and only city in Adams County, Mississippi, United States. Natchez has a total population of 14,520 (as of the 2020 census). Located on the Mississippi River across from Vidalia in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, N ...

. After his death in 1846, Franklin's widow, by then known as Adelicia Cheatham, joined these plantations: Panola, Belle View, Killarney, and Angola, when she sold them all in 1880 to Samuel Lawrence James, the former CSA officer. The Angola plantation was named for the country on the west coast of Southern Africa from which many of its slaves had come. It contained a building called the Old Slave Quarters.www.corrections.state.la.us "HISTORY OF ANGOLA"
Under the convict lease system, Major James ran his vast plantation using convicts leased from the state as his workers. He was responsible for their room and board, and had virtually total authority over them. With the incentive to earn money from prisoners, the state passed laws directed at African Americans, requiring payment of minor fees and fines as punishment for infractions. Cash-poor men in the

agricultural economy Agricultural economics is an applied field of economics concerned with the application of economic theory in optimizing the production and distribution of food and fiber products. Agricultural economics began as a branch of economics that speci ...

were forced into jail and convict labor. Such convicts were frequently abused, underfed, and subject to unregulated violence. The state exercised little oversight of conditions. Prisoners were often worked to death under harsh conditions.''Slavery by Any Other Name'' James died in 1894.

20th century operations

The

says that this facility opened as a state prison in 1901.Time in Prison
"

. 32/40. Retrieved on September 23, 2010. The state began transferring prison facilities out of the old penitentiary into Angola. The old penitentiary continued to be used as a receiving station, hospital, clothing and shoe factory, and place for executions until it finally closed in 1917.United States. General Services Administration. '' Hard Labor: History and Archaeology at the Old Louisiana State Penitentiary, Baton Rouge, Louisiana''. Government Printing Office, 1991. Retrieved from ''

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

'' on November 3, 2020. The history and archaeology of the old penitentiary provide insights into the structures and daily life of inmates at the time. Charles Wolfe and Kip Lornell, authors of ''The Life and Legend of Leadbelly'', said that Angola was "probably as close to slavery as any person could come in 1930." Hardened criminals broke down upon being notified that they were being sent to Angola. White-black racial tensions in the society were expressed at the prison, adding to the violence: each year one in every ten inmates were stabbed. Wolfe and Lornell said that the staff, consisting of 90 people, "ran the prison like it was a private fiefdom."Wolfe, Charles K. and Kip Lornell. ''The Life and Legend of Leadbelly''.

Da Capo Press Da Capo Press is an American publishing company with headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. It is now an imprint of Hachette Books. History Founded in 1964 as a publisher of music books, as a division of Plenum Publishers, it had additional of ...

, 1999
p. 100
Retrieved from ''

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

'' on August 25, 2010. , 9780306808968 The two authors said that prisoners were viewed as

nigger In the English language, the word ''nigger'' is an ethnic slur used against black people, especially African Americans. Starting in the late 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been progressively replaced by the euphemism , notably in cases ...

s' of the lowest order".Wolfe, Charles K. and Kip Lornell. ''The Life and Legend of Leadbelly''.

, 1999
p. 101
Retrieved from ''

'' on August 25, 2010. The state did not appropriate many funds for the operation of Angola, and saved money by trying to decrease costs. Much of the remaining money ended up in the operations of other state projects; Wolfe and Lornell said that the re-appropriation of funds occurred "mysteriously". In 1935, remains of a Native American individual were taken from Angola and were donated to the

Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science 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 border ...

. In 1948,

Governor 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 ...

Earl Kemp Long Earl Kemp Long (August 26, 1895 – September 5, 1960) was an American politician and the 45th governor of Louisiana, serving three nonconsecutive terms. Long, known as "Uncle Earl", connected with voters through his folksy demeanor and c ...

appointed Rollo C. Lawrence, a former mayor of Pineville, as the first Angola superintendent. Long subsequently established the position of warden as one of

political patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

. Long appointed distant relatives as wardens of the prison.Harper, Stephen J. ''Crossing Hoffa: A Teamster's Story''. Minnesota Historical Society, 2007
36
Retrieved from

on March 14, 2011. , . In the institution's history, the electric chair,

Gruesome Gertie Gruesome Gertie was the nickname given by death row inmates to the Louisiana electric chair. It is also widely known for the failed execution of Willie Francis, the first failed execution by electric chair. History The 1940 Louisiana legislatu ...

, was stored at Angola. Because West Feliciana Parish did not want to be associated with state executions, for some time the state transported the chair to the parish of conviction of a condemned prisoner before executing him or her.Harper, Stephen J. ''Crossing Hoffa: A Teamster's Story''. Minnesota Historical Society, 2007
41
Retrieved from

on March 14, 2011. , . A former Angola prisoner, William Sadler (also called "Wooden Ear" because of hearing loss he suffered after a prison attack), wrote a series of articles about Angola in the 1940s. ''Hell on Angola'' helped bring about prison reform. In 1952, 31 inmates, in protest of the prison's conditions, cut their

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus ( ...

s. The protestors were referred to as the Heel String Gang. This caused national news agencies to write

exposé Expose, exposé, or exposed may refer to: News sources * Exposé (journalism), a form of investigative journalism * '' The Exposé'', a British conspiracist website Film and TV Film * ''Exposé'' (film), a 1976 thriller film * ''Exposed'' (1932 ...

stories about conditions at Angola.Harper, Stephen J. ''Crossing Hoffa: A Teamster's Story''. Minnesota Historical Society, 2007
42
Retrieved from

on March 14, 2011. , . In its November 22, 1952, issue, ''

Collier's Magazine ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Colli ...

'' referred to Angola as "the worst prison in America".Stein, Joel.
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 ...

''. Retrieved on July 21, 2010. In addition, Margaret Dixon, managing editor of the ''

Baton Rouge Morning Advocate ''The Advocate'' is Louisiana's largest daily newspaper. Based in Baton Rouge, it serves the southern portion of the state. Separate editions for New Orleans, '' The Times-Picayune The New Orleans Advocate'', and for Acadiana, ''The Acadiana ...

'' for two decades, worked for

prison reform Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, improve the effectiveness of a penal system, or implement alternatives to incarceration. It also focuses on ensuring the reinstatement of those whose lives are impacted by crimes ...

, specifically, construction of other facilities to reduce the population at Angola. The new Margaret Dixon Correctional Institution opened in 1976 and was named for her. On December 5, 1956, five men escaped by digging out of the prison grounds and swimming across the

. They were Robert Wallace, 25; Wallace McDonald, 23; Vernon Roy Ingram, 21; Glenn Holiday, 20; and Frank Verbon Gann, 30. The '' Hope Star'' newspaper of Arkansas reported that one body (believed to be Wallace) was recovered from the river. McDonald was captured later in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, after returning to the United States from Mexico. McDonald said that two of his fellow escapees drowned, but this was disputed by warden Maurice Sigler. Sigler said that he believed no more than one inmate drowned. His men had found three clear sets of tracks climbing up the river bank. Gann's family wrote to Sigler on multiple occasions, requesting that he declare the escaped prisoner dead to free up benefits for his children. Although the family never heard again from Gann, Sigler refused to declare him dead, saying that he was likely in Mexico. Gann had been imprisoned in Angola after escaping from the Opelousas Parish Jail on April 29, 1956, where he was serving a relatively minor charge for car theft. In 1961, female inmates were moved from Angola to the newly opened

Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women (LCIW) is a prison for women with its permanent pre-2016 facility located in St. Gabriel, Louisiana. It is the only female correctional facility of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Correct ...

. In 1971 the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...

criticized the state of Angola. Linda Ashton of the ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

'' said that the bar association described Angola's conditions as "medieval, squalid and horrifying".Ashton, Linda. "Louisiana Inmates Blame Unrest on Governor : Roemer's Stinginess With Clemency Has Created 'Time Bomb,' Lifers Claim", ''

'', at the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''. July 23, 1989
2
Retrieved on March 22, 2011. In 1972, Elayne Hunt, a reforming director of corrections, was appointed by Governor Edwin Edwards. The U.S. courts in ''

Gates v. Collier ''Gates v. Collier'', 501 F.2d 1291 (5th Cir. 1974), was a landmark decision of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that brought an end to the trusty system as well as flagrant inmate abuse at Mississippi State Penitentiary, also known as Parchm ...

'' ordered Louisiana to clean up Angola once and for all, ordering the end of the Trustee-Officer and Trusty systems. Efforts to reform and improve conditions at Angola have continued. In 1975 U.S. District Judge Frank Polozola of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, declared conditions at Angola to be in a state of emergency. The state installed Ross Maggio as the warden. Prisoners nicknamed Maggio "the gangster" because he strictly adhered to rules. Ashton said that by most accounts, Maggio improved conditions. Maggio retired in 1984. In the 1980s

Kirksey Nix Kirksey McCord Nix Jr. (born 1943) is the former leader of the Dixie Mafia.The Sun Herald, ''The Dixie Mafia:Sheriff Leroy Hobbs, Drugs and Murder'', Gene Swearingen and Anita Lee, September 15, 1990

perpetrated the "Angola Lonely Hearts" scam from within the prison. On June 21, 1989, US District Judge Polozola declared a new state of emergency at Angola.Ashton, Linda. "Louisiana Inmates Blame Unrest on Governor : Roemer's Stinginess With Clemency Has Created 'Time Bomb,' Lifers Claim" ''

'' at the ''

''. July 23, 1989
3
Retrieved on March 22, 2011. In 1993 Angola officers fatally shot 29-year-old escapee Tyrone Brown.

Burl Cain Nathan Burl Cain (born July 2, 1942) is the commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and the former warden at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola in West Feliciana Parish, north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He worked there ...

served as the warden from 1995 to March 7, 2016. He was known for numerous improvements and lowering the rate of violence at the prison, but also numerous criminal allegations. In 1999 six inmates who were serving life sentences for murder took three officers hostage in Camp D. The hostage takers bludgeoned and fatally stabbed 49-year-old Captain David Knapps. Armed officers ended the rebellion by shooting the inmates, killing 26-year-old Joel Durham, and seriously wounding another.

21st century

In 2004 Paul Harris of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' said "Unsurprisingly, Angola has always been famed for brutality, riots, escape and murder." On August 31, 2008,

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

mayor

Ray Nagin Clarence Raymond Joseph Nagin Jr. (born June 11, 1956) is an American former politician who was the 60th Mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, from 2002 to 2010. A Democrat, Nagin became internationally known in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane K ...

stated in a press conference that anyone arrested for looting during the evacuation of the city due to

Hurricane Gustav Hurricane Gustav () was the second most destructive hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. The seventh tropical cyclone, third hurricane, and second major hurricane of the season, Gustav caused serious damage and casualties in Haiti, ...

would not be housed in the city/parish jail, but instead sent directly to Angola to await trial. As evidence that the prison had retained its notoriety, Nagin warned: In 2009, the prison reduced its budget by $12 million by "double bunking" (installing bunk beds to increase the capacity of dormitories), reducing overtime, and replacing officers with security cameras. In 2012, 1,000 prisoners were transferred to Angola from

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 ...

, which had closed. The state government did not increase the prison's budget, nor did it hire additional employees. On March 11, 2014, Glenn Ford, a man wrongfully convicted of murder and Louisiana's longest-serving death row prisoner, walked free after a court overturned his conviction a day earlier when petitioned by prosecutors. Ford had spent nearly three decades at the prison, with 26 years in

solitary confinement Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...

on death row. The state's policy was to house death row prisoners in solitary confinement, but lengthy appeals have created new harsh conditions of extended solitary. Convicts and their defense counsels have challenged such lengthy stays in solitary confinement, which has been shown to be deleterious to both mental and physical health, and has been considered to be "cruel and unusual punishment" under the US Constitution. In March 2019, seven members of staff at the facility were arrested for rape, smuggling items to inmates, and maintaining personal relationships with prisoners. In 2020, regarding the

COVID-19 pandemic in Louisiana The first presumptive case relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in Louisiana was announced on March 9, 2020. Since the first confirmed case, the outbreak grew particularly fast relative to other states and countries. , there have been 1,454,828 cumu ...

, ''

ProPublica ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. In 2010, it became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize, for a piece written by one of its journalists''The Guardian'', April 13, 2010P ...

'' wrote that prisoners alleged that deliberate low testing rates masked an epidemic in the prison. Prison officials denied the prisoner's allegations. Prisoners also allege they were treated with over-the-counter medications, and "four of the 12 prisoners who have died in the pandemic...had been denied needed medical help for days because their symptoms were not considered sufficiently serious". ''ProPublica'' also wrote that some sick inmates "concealed their symptoms to try to avoid losing their freedom of movement and other privileges" because of extended quarantines.

Management

Angola was designed to be as self-sufficient as possible; it functioned as a miniature community with a canning factory, a dairy, a mail system, a small ranch, repair shops, and a sugar mill. Prisoners raised food staples and cash crops. The self-sufficiency was enacted so taxpayers would spend less money and so politicians such as Governor of Louisiana

Huey P. Long Huey Pierce Long Jr. (August 30, 1893September 10, 1935), nicknamed "the Kingfish", was an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a United States senator from 1932 until his assassination ...

would have an improved public image. In the 1930s prisoners worked from dawn until dusk. As of 2009 there are three levels of solitary confinement. "Extended lockdown" is colloquially known as "Closed Cell Restricted" or "CCR". Until a period before 2009,

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting Capital punishment, execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of ...

inmates had more privileges than "extended lockdown" inmates, including the privilege of watching television.Biggs, Brooke Shelby.
Camp J, Red Hats, and the Hole
" ''

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 ...

''. March 5, 2009. Retrieved on August 25, 2010. "Extended lockdown" was originally intended as a temporary punishment. The next most restrictive level was, in 2009, "Camp J", referring to an inmate housing unit that houses solitary confinement. The most restrictive level is "administrative segregation", colloquially referred to by inmates as the "dungeon" or the "hole".

Location

Louisiana State Penitentiary is in

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

, in east central Louisiana.Doomed Man Loses His Swedish Pen Pal
" ''

The Tuscaloosa News The '' Tuscaloosa News '' is a daily newspaper serving Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States, and the surrounding area in west central Alabama. In 2012, Halifax Media Group acquired the ''Tuscaloosa News''. Prior to that, the paper's owner was T ...

''. Sunday September 20, 1964. 20. Retrieved from ''

Google News Google News is a news aggregator service developed by Google. It presents a continuous flow of links to articles organized from thousands of publishers and magazines. Google News is available as an app on Android, iOS, and the Web. Google rel ...

'' (11 of 22) on August 26, 2010. It is located at the base of the

Tunica Hills Tunica may refer to: * The Latin word for tunic, a type of clothing typical in the ancient world Biology * Tunica (biology), a layer, sheath or similar covering * "Tunica", an anatomical term for a membranous structure lining a cavity, or coveri ...

, in a region described by Jenny Lee Rice of '' Paste'' as "breathtakingly beautiful".Rice, Jenny Lee. "Prison Radio." '' Paste''. Issue 4
2
Retrieved on September 26, 2010. The prison is about northwest of St. Francisville, about northwest of

, and northwest of

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. Angola is about an hour's drive from Baton Rouge,Varnado, Michael L. and Daniel P. Smith. ''Victims of Dead Man Walking''.

Pelican Publishing Pelican Publishing Company is a book publisher based in Gretna, a suburb of New Orleans. Formed in 1926, Pelican is the largest independent trade book publisher located in the U.S. South. Pelican publishes approximately 60 titles per year and ...

, 2003
179
Retrieved from

on November 2, 2010. , . and it is about a two-hour driving distance from New Orleans. The

borders the facility on three sides. The prison is in proximity to the Louisiana-Mississippi border. Angola is located about from 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. "Angola and DCI are about 34 miles apart." and "Cain has been under fire for renovations he has made to Angola's "Ranch House" and expenses entertaining prison guests there. The Ranch House was built as a..." Charles Wolfe and Kip Lornell, authors of ''The Life and Legend of Leadbelly'', said that in the 1990s the prison remained "far away from public awareness". The prison officials sometimes provide meals for official guests because of what the

Louisiana Department of Public Safety and 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 ...

refers to as the "extreme remote location" of Angola; the nearest non-prison dining facility is, as of 1999, away. The prison property is adjacent to the Angola Tract of the Tunica Hills Wildlife Management Area. Due to security reasons regarding Angola, the Tunica Hills WMA's Angola Tract is closed to the general public from March 1 through August 31 every year. The main entrance is at the terminus of

, a road described by Wolfe and Lornell as "a winding, often muddy state road". From St. Francisville one would travel about north along

U.S. Highway 61 U.S. Route 61 or U.S. Highway 61 (U.S. 61) is a major United States highway that extends between New Orleans, Louisiana and the city of Wyoming, Minnesota. The highway generally follows the course of the Mississippi River and is designated ...

, turn left at Louisiana 66, and travel on that road for until it dead ends at Angola's front gate.Welcome to the Prison View Golf Course
" Prison View Golf Course. Retrieved on August 26, 2010. The Angola Ferry provides a ferry service between Angola and a point in

Pointe Coupee Parish Pointe Coupee Parish ( or ; french: Paroisse de la Pointe-Coupée) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 22,802; in 2020, its population was 20,758. The parish seat is New Roads. Pointe ...

. The ferry is open only to employees except during special events, when members of the general public may use it.

Composition

The prison property occupies a area. The size of the prison property is larger than the size of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

.Applebome, Peter.
Seconds of Freedom
" ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. October 18, 1998. Retrieved on August 25, 2010. "Angola covers 18,000 acres, larger than the island of Manhattan." Charles Wolfe and Kip Lornell, authors of ''The Life and Legend of Leadbelly'', said that Angola of the 1990s looks "more like a large working plantation than one of the most notorious prisons in the United States." Officers patrol the complex on horseback, as many of the prison acres are devoted to cultivation of crops. By 1999 the prison's primary roads had been paved. The prison property is surrounded by the Tunica Hills and by the

. The perimeter of the property is not fenced, while the individual prisoner dormitory and recreational camps are fenced. Most of the prison buildings are yellow with a red trim. Lake Killarney, Angola LA

Inmate-quarters

The state of Louisiana considers Angola to be a multi-security institution. 29% of the prison's beds are designated for maximum security inmates. The inmates live in several housing units scattered across the Angola grounds. By the 1990s air conditioning and heating units had been installed in the inmate housing units. Most inmates live in dormitories instead of cell blocks. The prison administration states that this is because having "inmates of all ages and with long sentences olive this way encourages cooperation and healthy peer relationships."

Main Prison Complex

The Main Prison Complex consists of the East Yard and the West Yard. The East Yard has 16 minimum and medium custody prisoner dormitories and one maximum custody extended lockdown cellblock; the cellblock houses long-term extended-lockdown prisoners, in-transit administrative segregation prisoners, inmates who need mental health attention, and protective-custody inmates.Photo Album
."
Alternate link
) Louisiana State Penitentiary. Retrieved on July 20, 2010. The West Yard has 16 minimum and medium custody prisoner dormitories, two administrative segregation cellblocks, and the prison treatment center. The treatment center houses geriatric, hospice, and ill in-transit prisoners. As of 1999 the main prison complex houses half of Angola's prisoners. Dormitories within the main prison include the Ash, Cypress, Hickory, Magnolia, Oak, Pine, Spruce, and Walnut dormitories. The cell blocks are A, B, C, and D. The main prison also houses the local Main Prison administration building, a gymnasium, a kitchen/dining facility, the Angola Vocational School, and the Judge Henry A. Politz Educational building.Buildings with Replacement Cost Values Greater Than $1,000,000 as of 2/14/2005
"
Archive
State of Louisiana. Retrieved on May 1, 2012.

Outcamps

Angola also has several outcamps. Camp C includes eight minimum and medium custody dormitories, one cellblock with administrative segregation and working cellblock prisoners, and one extended lockdown cellblock. Camp C includes the Bear and Wolf dormitories and Jaguar and Tiger cellblocks. Camp D has the same features as Camp C, except that it has one working cellblock instead of an extended lockdown cellblock, and its other cellblock does not have working prisoners. Camp D houses the Eagle and Falcon dormitories and the Hawk and Raven cellblocks. Camp F has four minimum custody dormitories and the "Dog Pen", which houses 11 minimum custody inmates. All of the prisoners housed in Camp F are trustees who mop floors, deliver food to fellow prisoners, and perform other support tasks.Varnado, Michael L. and Daniel P. Smith. ''Victims of Dead Man Walking''.

, 2003
184
Retrieved from

on November 2, 2010. , . Camp F also houses Angola's execution chamber. Camp F has a lake where trustees fish. A prisoner quoted in ''Self-governance, Normalcy and Control: Inmate-produced Media at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola'' described Camp F as being "off from the rest of the prison". The Close Cell Restricted (CCR) unit, an isolation unit located near the Angola main entrance, has 101 isolation cells and 40 trustee beds. Jimmy LeBlanc, the corrections secretary, said in October 2010 that the State of Louisiana could save about $1.8 million during the remaining nine months of the 2010–2011 fiscal year if it closed CCR and moved prisoners to unused death row cells and possibly some Camp D double bunks. LeBlanc said that the prisoners in isolation would remain isolated. Camp J was in operation until its 2018 closure. It has four extended lockdown cellblocks, which contain prisoners with disciplinary problems, and one dormitory with minimum and medium custody inmates who provide housekeeping functions for Camp J. Camp J houses the Alligator, Barracuda, Gar, and Shark cellblocks.

=Reception center and death row

= The Reception Center, the closest prison housing building to the main entrance, acts as a reception center for arriving prisoners. It is located to the right of the main highway, inside the main gate. In addition it contains the

for male inmates in Louisiana, with 101 extended lockdown cells housing condemned inmates. The death row facility has a central room and multiple tiers. The entrance to each tier includes a locked door and color photographs of the prisoners located in each tier.Ridgeway, James. "God's Own Warden." ''

''. July/August 2011 Issue. p
3
Retrieved on March 23, 2013. "And I've seen a lot of good come out of faith-based programs—which, particularly in prison, fill the void created when lawmakers nationwide slashed funding for rehabilitation. In 1994, for example, Congress dealt a crushing blow to prison education by making inmates ineligible for higher-education Pell grants. Prison college programs, which had proved the single most effective tool for reducing recidivism, disappeared almost overnight. In Louisiana today, 1 percent of the corrections budget goes to rehabilitation. The imbalance "makes no rational sense from a prison management point of view," says David Fathi, who heads the ACLU's National Prison Project. "But unfortunately it makes political sense for the next election." As a result, he says, "the religiously inspired programs are pretty much all there is."" Death row includes eight tiers, lettered A to G. Seven tiers have 15 cells each, while one tier has 11 cells. Each hallway has a cell that is used for showering.Varnado, Michael L., and Daniel P. Smith. ''Victims of Dead Man Walking''.

, 2003
180
Retrieved from

on November 2, 2010. , . The death row houses exercise areas with basketball posts.Varnado, Michael L. and Daniel P. Smith. ''Victims of Dead Man Walking''.

, 2003
182
Retrieved from

on November 2, 2010. , . The death row facility was constructed in 2006 and there is no air conditioning or cross ventilation.McGaughy, Lauren.
Louisiana death row inmates testify to 'indescribable' heat at Angola prison
" ''

The Times Picayune ''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of th ...

''. August 6, 2013. Updated August 8, 2013. Retrieved on October 7, 2013. In addition, the Reception Center has one minimum custody dormitory with inmates who provide housekeeping for the facility. In June 2013 three prisoners filed a federal lawsuit against the prison in the court in

, alleging that the death row facility does not have adequate measures to prevent overheating.McHaughy, Lauren.
Death row inmates sue Angola Prison over 'extreme' temperatures
" ''

''. June 10, 2013. Updated June 11, 2013. Retrieved on October 7, 2013. The prisoners said that due to pre-existing medical conditions, the heat may cause health problems. Brian A. Jackson, the district federal judge, ordered collection of temperature data at the Angola death row for three weeks to determine the conditions. During that time, Angola officials blasted outer walls of the prison with water cannons and installed window awnings to attempt to lower temperature data. In response, Jackson said that he was "troubled" by the possibility of manipulating the temperature data. On Monday August 5, 2013, the federal trial regarding the condition of the death row in high heat started. The following day, Warden Burl Cain apologized for violating the court order regarding data collection. On Wednesday August 7, 2013, closing arguments in the trial ended. In December 2013 U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson ruled that the heat index of the prison was cruel and unusual punishment, and therefore, a cooling system must be installed. By 2014 a court-ordered plan to install a cooling system was underway. As of May 2019, the issue was close to being resolved after a 6-year long court battle. A settlement has been reached between the death row inmates and the prison. The settlement agreement calls for daily showers for the three Angola inmates of at least 15 minutes; individual ice containers that are timely replenished by prison staff; individual fans; water faucets in their cells; "IcyBreeze" units or so-called "Cajun coolers"; and the diversion of cool air from the death-row guard pod into their cells. Even though these measures have already been put in place, the court ruling could take until November 2019 to be made final by judge Brian Jackson.

B-Line

The facility includes a group of houses, called the "B-Line", which function as residences for prison staff members and their families; inmates perform services for the staff members and their households. The employee housing includes recreational centers, pools, and parks.Sullivan, Laura.
Doubts Arise About 1972 Angola Prison Murder
" ''

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

''. October 27, 2008. Retrieved on July 17, 2010. The Angola B-Line Chapel was dedicated on Friday, July 17, 2009, at 4:00 pm. Residents on the prison grounds are zoned to West Feliciana Parish Public Schools. Primary schools serving the Angola grounds include Bains Lower Elementary School and Bains Elementary School in Bains.Rivas, Brittany.
West Feliciana board closes elementary school
." ''

WBRZ WBRZ-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with ABC. The station is owned by the Manship family, who formerly published the Baton Rouge daily newspaper, '' The Advocate'', and is one of a han ...

''. May 18, 2007. Retrieved on February 18, 2012. Secondary schools serving the Angola grounds are West Feliciana Middle School and

West Feliciana High School West Feliciana Parish Public Schools (WFPPS) or West Feliciana Parish School Board (WFPSB) is a school district headquartered in St. Francisville, Louisiana, United States. The district serves residents of West Feliciana Parish, including St. ...

in Bains. The West Feliciana Parish Library is located in St. Francisville. The library, previously a part of the Audubon Regional Library System, became independent in January 2004. West Feliciana Parish is in the service area of

Baton Rouge Community College Baton Rouge Community College is a public community college in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Established on June 28, 1995, the college settled into a permanent location in 1998. The campus consists of six main buildings: Governors Building, Louisia ...

. Previously elementary school children attended Tunica Elementary School in Tunica,"Fair enlivens out-of-the-way school." '' The Advocate''. May 18, 1991. Retrieved on August 16, 2010. "Tunica Elementary is only a few miles from the main gate of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola and many of its students live on the 18000acre prison" located in proximity to Angola. The school building, from Angola,West Feliciana Parish School System Profile
"
Archive

West Feliciana Parish School System West Feliciana Parish Public Schools (WFPPS) or West Feliciana Parish School Board (WFPSB) is a school district headquartered in St. Francisville, Louisiana, United States. The district serves residents of West Feliciana Parish, including St. ...

. 3. Retrieved on February 18, 2012. is several miles from Angola's main entrance, and many of its students lived on the Angola grounds. On May 18, 2011, due to budget cuts, the parish school board voted to close Tunica Elementary.

Fire station

The fire station houses the Angola Emergency Medical Services Department staff, who provide fire and emergency services to the prison. The Angola Fire Department is registered as department number 63001 with the Louisiana Fire Marshal's Office. The department's equipment includes one engine, one tanker, and one rescue truck. Within Angola the department protects 500 buildings, including employee and prisoner housing quarters. The department has mutual aid agreements with

and with Wilkinson County, Mississippi.

Religious sites

The main entrance to Angola has an etched monument that refers to

Epistle to the Philippians The Epistle to the Philippians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and Timothy is named with him as co-author or co-sender. The letter is addressed to the Christia ...

3:15."Spinning Hope on Incarceration Station." ''

''. April 12, 2006
2
Retrieved on August 25, 2010. Reflecting the historic dominance of the Catholic church in south Louisiana, St. Augustine Church was built in the early 1950s and is staffed by the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. The New Life Interfaith Chapel was dedicated in 1982. In the 2000s the main prison church, the churches for Camps C and D, and a grounds chapel were constructed as part of an effort to build chapels for every state-run prison facility. A staff and family of staff chapel was also under construction. Outside donations and ticket sales from the prison rodeo funded these churches. The Camp C Chapel and the B-Line Chapel were both dedicated the same day.Chapel Dedications at Louisiana's Maximum-Security Prison
" Louisiana State Penitentiary. Retrieved on August 24, 2010. The most recent structure is Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel, a structure built with over $450,000 worth of materials donated by Latin American businessmen Jorge Valdez and Fernando Garcia. Its design resembles The Alamo in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

, Texas. Built in 38 days by 50 prisoners, it opened in December 2013. The interfaith church "includes seating for more than 200 and features paintings, furniture and stained-glass windows crafted by inmates."

Recreational facilities

Prison staff members have access to recreational facilities on the Angola property. Angola has ball fields, the Prison View Golf Course, a swimming pool, a tennis court, and a walking track.Time in Prison
"

. 34/40. Retrieved on September 23, 2010. Lake Killarney, an

oxbow lake An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called '' resacas''. In Australia, oxbow lakes are call ...

of the

located on the prison grounds, has large

crappie Crappies () are two species of North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Pomoxis'' in the family Centrarchidae (sunfishes). Both species of crappies are popular game fish among recreational anglers. Etymology The genus name ''Pomoxis'' ...

fish. The prison administration controls access to Lake Killarney, and few people fish there. The crappie fish grow very large. Butler Park is a recreational facility on the edge of the Angola property. It houses gazebos, picnic tables, and barbecue pits. As of 1986, a prisoner who has no major disciplinary issues for at least a year may use the property.

Prison View Golf Course

Prison View Golf Course, a , 9-hole, 36-par golf course, is located on the grounds of Angola. Prison View, the only golf course on the property of an American prison,Plaisance, Stacey.
Golf Channel visits La. prison course
" ''

'' at the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

''. June 30, 2009. Retrieved on November 3, 2010. is between the Tunica Hills and Camp J, at the intersection of B-Line Road and Camp J Road. All individuals wishing to play are required to provide personal information 48 hours before their arrival, so the prison authorities can conduct background checks. Convicted felons and individuals on visitation lists are not permitted to play on the golf course. Current prisoners at Angola are not permitted to play on the golf course. The golf course, constructed on the site of a former bull pasture, opened in June 2004. Prisoners performed most of the work to construct the course. Prisoners that the administration considers to be the most trustworthy are permitted to work at the golf course. Warden Burl Cain stated that he built the course so that employees would be encouraged to stay at Angola over weekends. He wanted them available to provide support in case of an emergency.

Guest house

The "Ranch House" is a facility for prison guests. James Ridgeway of ''

'' described it as "a sort of clubhouse where the wardens and other officials get together in a convivial atmosphere for chow prepared by inmate cooks."Ridgeway, James. "God's Own Warden." ''

''. July/August 2011. p
5
Retrieved on March 23, 2013. Originally constructed to serve as a conference center to supplement the meeting room in the Angola administration building, the "Ranch House" received its name after

was selected as Warden. Cain had the building renovated to accommodate overnight guests. The renovations, which included the conversion of one room into a bedroom and the addition of a shower and fireplace, cost approximately $7,346. Traditionally, prisoners who worked successfully as cooks in the Ranch House were later assigned to work as cooks at the

Louisiana Governor's Mansion The Louisiana Governor's Mansion is the official residence of the governor of Louisiana and their family. The Governor’s Mansion was built in 1963 when Jimmie Davis was Governor of Louisiana. The Mansion overlooks Capital Lake near the Louisia ...

Cemeteries

Point Lookout Cemetery is the

prison cemetery A prison cemetery is a graveyard reserved for the dead bodies of prisoners. Generally, the remains of inmates who are not claimed by family or friends are interred in prison cemeteries and include convicts executed for capital crimes. List of ...

, located on the north side of the Angola property, at the base of the Tunica Hills. Deceased prisoners from all state prisons had been buried here who were not claimed and transported elsewhere by family members.Time in Prison
."

. 33/40. Retrieved on September 23, 2010. A white rail fence surrounds the cemetery. The current Point Lookout was created after a 1927 flood destroyed the previous cemetery, which was located between the current Camps C and D. In September 2001 a memorial was installed here that is dedicated to "Unknown Prisoners". The Point Lookout plot established after 1927 has 331 grave markers and an unknown number of bodies; it is considered full. Point Lookout II, a cemetery annex east of the original Point Lookout, opened in the mid-1990s; it has a capacity of 700 grave sites. As of 2010, 90 prisoners were buried at Point Lookout II.

Angola Museum

The Angola Museum, operated by the nonprofit Louisiana State Penitentiary Museum Foundation, is the on-site prison museum. Visitors are charged $5 per adult admission fee, $3 per adult if the group is 10 or larger. The museum is located outside the prison's main gate, in a former bank building.Auzenne, Joshua.
Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola
" '' WAFB-TV''. May 14, 2010. Updated on January 7, 2011. Retrieved on April 28, 2012.

Angola Airstrip

The prison includes the Angola Airstrip . – Retrieved on October 26, 2010.
Archive
The airstrip is used by state-owned aircraft to transport prisoners to and from Angola and for transporting officials on state business to and from Angola. The airport is used during daylight and

visual flight rules In aviation, visual flight rules (VFR) are a set of regulations under which a pilot operates an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better ...

times.

Other prison facilities and features

The facility's main entrance has a metal-roofed guard house for review of traffic to and from the prison. Michael L. Varnado and Daniel P. Smith of ''Victims of Dead Man Walking'' said that the guard house "looks like a large carport over the road. " The guard house has long barriers, with Stop signs, to prevent automobiles entering and leaving the compound without the permission of the officers. To allow a vehicle access or egress, the officers manually raise the barriers. The Front Gate Visiting Processing Center, with a rated capacity of 272 persons, is the processing and security screening point for prison visitors. The

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

operates the Angola Post Office on the prison grounds. It was established on October 2, 1887. The David C. Knapps Correctional Officer Training Academy, the state training center for correctional officers, is located at the northwest corner of Angola, in front of Camp F. Near the training center, Angola prisoners maintain the only nature preserve located on the grounds of a penal institution. The R. E. Barrow, Jr., Treatment Center is located on the Angola premises. The C.C. Dixon K-9 Training Center is the dog-training area. It was named in 2002 to commemorate Connie Conrad Dixon, a dog trainer and K-9 officer, who died in 1997 aged 89. The Louisiana State Penitentiary Wastewater Treatment Plant serves the prison complex. The prison also houses an all-purpose arena.

History of infrastructure at the prison

Camp A, the former slave quarters for the plantation, was the first building to house inmates. In the early 21st century, Camp A did not house prisoners. Charles Wolfe and Kip Lornell, authors of ''The Life and Legend of Leadbelly'' (1992), said that during the 1930s, Angola was "even further removed from decent civilization" than it was in the 1990s. The two added "that's the way the state of Louisiana wanted it, for Angola held some of the meanest inmates." In 1930 about 130 women, most of them black, were imprisoned in Camp D. In 1930 Camp A, which held around 700 black inmates, was close to the center of the Angola institution. Inmates worked on

levee A levee (), dike (American English), dyke (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is a structure that is usually soil, earthen and that often runs parallel (geometry), parallel to ...

control, as the springtime high water posed a threat to Angola. The Mississippi River was nearly wide in this area. Many inmates who tried to swim across drowned; few of their bodies were recovered. The prison hospital opened in the 1940s. The campus had only one permanent nurse and no permanent doctor. In the 1980s the main road to Angola had not been paved.Ashton, Linda. (Associated Press) "Louisiana Inmates Blame Unrest on Governor : Roemer's Stinginess With Clemency Has Created 'Time Bomb,' Lifers Claim", ''

''. July 23, 1989
1
Retrieved on March 22, 2011. It has since been black topped. The outcamp buildings, constructed in 1939 as a WPA project during the Great Depression, were renovated in the 1970s. During May 1993 the buildings' fire safety violations were reported. In June of that year,

Richard Stalder Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...

, the Secretary of Corrections, said that Angola would close the buildings if LDP S&C did not find millions of dollars to improve the buildings.

Red Hat Cell Block

The most restrictive inmate housing unit was colloquially referred to as " Red Hat Cell Block",20030228.htm
"

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

. February 28, 2003. Retrieved on March 13, 2011. after the red paint-coated straw hats that its occupants wore when they worked in the fields. "Red Hat", a one-story, 30-cell building at Camp E, was built in 1933. Brooke Shelby Biggs of ''

'' reported that men who had lived in "Red Hat" "told of a dungeon crawling with rats, where dinner was served in stinking buckets splashed onto the floors." Warden C. Murray Henderson phased out solitary confinement at "Red Hat".Sinclair, Billy and Jodie Sinclair. ''A Life in the Balance: the Billy Wayne Sinclair Story''.

Arcade Publishing Arcade Publishing is an independent trade publishing company that started in 1988 in New York, USA. It publishes American and world fiction and nonfiction. The company was started and run by Richard Seaver and his wife Jeannette.Weber, Bruce (J ...

, 2000
132
Retrieved from

on October 28, 2010. , In 1972 his successor Elayn Hunt had "Red Hat" officially closed. In 1977 the administration made Camp J the most restrictive housing unit in Angola. On February 20, 2003, the

listed the Red Hat Cell Block on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

as #03000041.

Demographics

Louisiana State Penitentiary is the largest correctional facility in the United States by population.Rice, Jenny Lee. "Prison Radio." '' Paste''. Issue 4
1
Retrieved on September 26, 2010. In 2010 the prison had 5,100 inmates and 1,700 employees. In 2010, the racial composition of the inmates was 76% black, 24% white. 71% of inmates were serving a life sentence. 1.6% had been sentenced to death. As of 2016 many inmates come from the state of

. As of 2011 the prison has about 1,600 employees, making it one of the largest employers in the State of Louisiana.Ridgeway, James. "God's Own Warden." ''

''. July/August 2011 Issue. p
1
Retrieved on March 23, 2013. Over 600 "free people" live on prison property. These residents are Angola's emergency response personnel and their dependents. In 1986 around 200 families of employees lived within Angola property. Hilton Butler, then Angola's Warden, estimated that 250 children lived on the Angola property. Many prison employees are from families that have lived and worked at Angola for generations. Laura Sullivan of ''

'' said "In a place so remote, it's hard to know what's

nepotism Nepotism is an advantage, privilege, or position that is granted to relatives and friends in an occupation or field. These fields may include but are not limited to, business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, fitness, religion, an ...

. There's simply no one else to hire."

Operations

As of 2011 the annual budget of the Louisiana State Penitentiary was more than $120 million. Angola is still operated as a working farm; former Warden Burl Cain once said that the key to running a peaceful maximum security prison was that "you've got to keep the inmates working all day so they're tired at night."James, Erwin.
37 years of solitary confinement: the Angola three
" ''

''. Wednesday March 10, 2010. Retrieved on August 16, 2010. In 2009 James Ridgeway of ''

'' said Angola was "An 18,000-acre complex that still resembles the

it once was." Angola has the largest number of inmates on

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

s in the United States. As of 2009 Angola had 3,712 inmates on life sentences, making up 74% of the population that year. Some 32 inmates die each year; only four generally gain parole each year. Louisiana's tough sentencing laws result in long sentences for the inmate population, who have been convicted of armed robbery, murder, and rape. In 1998 Peter Applebome of ''

'' wrote, "It's impossible to visit the place and not feel that a prisoner could disappear off the face of the earth and no one would ever know or care." Most new prisoners begin working in the cotton fields. A prisoner may spend years working there before gaining a better job. In Angola parlance a "freeman" is a

correctional officer A prison officer or corrections officer is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation of prisoners. They are responsible for the care, custody, and control of individuals who have been ...

.* The Kitchen Sisters.
Broncos and Boudin: The Angola Prison Rodeo
" ''

''. April 17, 2008. Retrieved on March 12, 2011. Around 2000, the officers were among the lowest-paid in the United States. Like the prisoners they supervised, few had graduated from high school. As of 2009, about half of the officers were female. The administration uses prisoners to provide cleaning and general maintenance services for the

West Feliciana Parish School Board West Feliciana Parish Public Schools (WFPPS) or West Feliciana Parish School Board (WFPSB) is a school district headquartered in St. Francisville, Louisiana, United States. The district serves residents of West Feliciana Parish, including St ...

and other government agencies and nonprofit groups within West Feliciana Parish. Warden Burl Cain maintained an open-door policy with the media. He allowed the filming of the documentary '' The Farm: Angola, USA'' (1998) at the prison, which focused on the lives of six men. It won numerous awards. Films such as '' Dead Man Walking'', '' Monster's Ball'', and ''

I Love You Phillip Morris ''I Love You Phillip Morris'' is a 2009 English-language French black comedy film based on a 1980s and 1990s real-life story of con artist, impostor and multiple prison escapee Steven Jay Russell, as played by Jim Carrey. While incarcerated, Russ ...

'' were partly filmed in Angola. Cain did not allow a proposed sex scene between two male inmates in ''I Love You Phillip Morris'' to be filmed at the prison.Ridgeway, James. "God's Own Warden." ''

''. July/August 2011 Issue. p
2
Retrieved on March 23, 2013. The prison hosts a

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working va ...

every April and October. Inmates produce the newsmagazine ''

The Angolite ''The Angolite'' is the inmate-edited and published magazine of the Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola) in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. History As with the rest of the prison, ''The Angolite'' was segregated; originally only white pris ...

'', which has won numerous awards. It is available to the general public and is relatively uncensored. The museum features among its exhibits Louisiana's old

electric chair An electric chair is a device used to execute an individual by electrocution. When used, the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, ...

, "

", last used for the execution of Andrew Lee Jones on July 22, 1991. Angola Prison hosts the country's only inmate-operated radio station, KLSP.

Farming

Inmates cultivate, harvest and process an array of crops that make the facility self-supporting. Crops include cabbage, corn, cotton, strawberries, okra, onions, peppers, soybeans, squash, tomatoes, and wheat. In 2013, the prison resumed growing

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

, a practice which it had stopped in the 1970s. As of 2010 the prison has 2,000 head of cattle. Much of the herd is sold at markets for beef. Each year, the prison produces four million pounds of vegetable crops. Inmates also breed and train the horses used at Angola for field work. Trustees are mounted to supervise workers in the fields. In 2010, the Angola Prison Horse Sale was initiated at the time of the annual rodeos.

Inmate education

Angola offers literacy classes for prisoners with no

high school diploma A high school diploma or high school degree is a North American academic school leaving qualification awarded upon high school graduation. The high school diploma is typically obtained after a course of study lasting four years, from grade 9 to gra ...

and no

General Equivalency Diploma The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a group of four subject tests which, when passed, provide certification that the test taker has United States or Canadian high school-level academic skills. It is an alternative to the US high ...

(GED), from Monday through Friday in the main prison, and in camps C-D and F. Angola also offers GED classes in the main prison and in camps C-D and F. The prison also offers ABE ( Adult Basic Education) classes for prisoners who have high school diplomas or GEDs, but who have inadequate Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) scores to get into vocational school. SSD (Special School District #1) provides services for special education students.Educational Programs
" Louisiana State Penitentiary. Retrieved on August 29, 2010. Prisoners with satisfactory TABE scores may be admitted to vocational classes. Such classes include automotive technology, carpentry, culinary arts, graphic communications, horticulture, and welding. In the 1990s, Angola partnered with 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 ...

to offer prisoners the chance to earn accredited bachelor's degrees in Ministry. Bruce M. Sabin wrote his doctoral dissertation evaluating the moral development among those college students. In 1994 the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

voted to eliminate prisoner eligibility for

Pell Grants A Pell Grant is a subsidy the U.S. federal government provides for students who need it to pay for college. Federal Pell Grants are limited to students with financial need, who have not earned their first bachelor's degree, or who are enrolled i ...

, making religious programs such as the New Orleans Baptist program the only ones in higher education available to prisoners. As of Spring 2008 95 prisoners were students in the program. Angola also offers the PREP Pre-Release Exit Program and Re-Entry Programs for prisoners who are about to be released into the outside world. Inmate library services are provided by the main Prison Library and four outcamp libraries. The prison is part of the Inter-Library Loan Program with the

State Library of Louisiana The State Library of Louisiana is Louisiana's List of U.S. state libraries and archives, state library agency, located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. History The first state library The current state library was not the first. The Louis ...

.Angola Prison Activities
" ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

''. Retrieved on July 24, 2010.

Manufacturing

Angola has several manufacturing facilities. The Farm Warehouse (914) is the point of distribution of agricultural supplies. The Mattress/Broom/Mop shop makes mattresses and cleaning tools. The Printing Shop prints documents, forms, and other printed materials. The Range Herd group manages 1,600 head of cattle. The Row Crops group harvests crops. The Silk-Screen group produces plates, badges, road and highway signs, and textiles; it also manages sales of sign hardware. The Tag Plant produces license plates for Louisiana and for overseas customers. The Tractor Repair shop repairs agricultural equipment. The Transportation Division delivers goods manufactured by the Prison Enterprises Division.

Magazine

''The Angolite'' is the inmate-published and -edited magazine of the institution, which began in 1975 or 1976. Each year, six issues are published. Louisiana prison officials believed that an independently edited publication would help the prison. ''The Angolite'' gained a national reputation as a quality magazine and won international awards under two prisoner editors,

Wilbert Rideau Wilbert Rideau (born February 13, 1942) is an American convicted killer and former death row inmate from Lake Charles, Louisiana, who became an author and award-winning journalist while held for 44 years at Angola Prison. Rideau was convicted i ...

and

Billy Sinclair Billy Wayne Sinclair (born 1945) is a former prisoner at the Louisiana State Penitentiary (also known as ''Angola''), convicted of first-degree murder and originally sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted to life in 1972. He became a notable ...

,TOPICS OF THE TIMES; Freedom Behind Bars
" ''

''. May 11, 1987. Retrieved on October 7, 2010. who became co-editors in 1978. Associate editor Ron Gene Wikberg joined them in 1988, moving up from a position as staff writer. He worked on the magazine until gaining parole in 1992.

Radio

Angola is the only penitentiary in the U.S. to be issued an FCC license to operate a radio station. KLSP (Louisiana State Penitentiary) is a 100-watt radio station that operates at 91.7 on the FM dial from inside the prison to approximately 6,000 potential listeners including inmates and penitentiary staff. The station is operated by inmates and carries some satellite programming. Inside the walls of Angola, KLSP is called the "Incarceration Station"Louisiana State Penitentiary KLSP
Accessed August 23, 2012 The station airs a variety of programming including gospel, jazz, blues, rock-n-roll, country, and oldies music, as well as educational and religious programs. The station has 20 hours of daily airtime, and all of the music aired by the station is donated. Music from His Radio and the Moody Ministry Broadcasting Network (MBN) airs during several hours of the day. Prisoners make the majority of broadcasting decisions. A radio station was established in 1986 originally as a means of communication within the complex. Jenny Lee Rice of '' Paste'' said "the need to disseminate information rapidly is critical" because Angola is the largest prison in the United States. The non-emergency uses of the station began in 1987 when Jimmy Swaggart, an evangelist, gave the prison old equipment from his radio network. In the early years, the radio station emphasized announcements and music more than religion, but in the early 21st century, it broadcast more religious programming.Churcher, Kalen Mary Ann. ''Self-governance, Normalcy and Control: Inmate-produced Media at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola''.

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

ProQuest ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...

, 2008. p. 83. , In 2001 Christian music artist, Larry Howard of Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowship visited the prison. He encouraged Jim Campbell, the President of Radio Training Network, to rebuild the station, which was off the air due to antiquated and broken equipment. Campbell and RTN sent HIS Radio Network Operations Manager, Ken Mayfield to head the team to rebuild the station. The team included Ted McCall (HIS Radio Chief Engineer), Jerry Williams (The Joy FM), Ben Birdsong (The Wind FM) Steve Swanson (WAFJ) and Rob Dempsey (HIS Radio). The team conducted an on-air radio fundraiser to buy new radio equipment. The fundraiser exceeded its $80,000 goal, raising more than $124,000 within three hours. Warden Burl Cain used the funds to update the radio equipment. Ken Mayfield returned several times to Angola to train prisoner DJs in using the new electronic systems. New equipment, including a new transmitter, allowed KLSP to broadcast in stereo for the first time, utilize satellite to expand its daily airtime to 20 hours, and to upgrade its programming. As of 2012, KLSP had an output of 105 watts. Further than away from Angola on

Louisiana Highway 61 U.S. Route 61 or U.S. Highway 61 (U.S. 61) is a major United States highway that extends between New Orleans, Louisiana and the city of Wyoming, Minnesota. The highway generally follows the course of the Mississippi River and is designated ...

, the signal begins to fade. At listeners can hear only white noise.

Paul von Zielbauer Paul von Zielbauer is a journalist, writer, and social entrepreneur and public speaker. In 2008, he foundeRoadmonkey Adventure Philanthropy a for-profit social venture that combines challenging outdoor adventures with sustainable, hands-on voluntee ...

of ''

'' said that "Still, 100 watts does not push the station's signal far beyond the prison gate." All 24 hours are devoted to religious programming. After religion became the primary focus, some inmates stopped listening to the station.Churcher, Kalen Mary Ann. ''Self-governance, Normalcy and Control: Inmate-produced Media at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola''.

, 2008. p. 84. ,

Television

The prison officials have started LSP-TV, a television station. According to Kalen Mary Ann Churcher of

, the television station follows the religious programming emphasis of the radio station more closely than it emulates reporting of ''

''. But its prisoner staff and technicicans also films prisoner events, such as the

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 ...

, prize fights, and football games. As it has a closed circuit system, it allows even inmates on death row to watch the broadcasts.''The Farm: 10 Down'' (2009), directed by Jonathan Stack

Burial of the deceased

Coffins for deceased prisoners are manufactured by inmates on the prison grounds. Previously, deceased prisoners were buried in cardboard boxes. After one body fell through the bottom of a box, Warden Burl Cain changed a policy, allowing for the manufacture of proper coffins for the deceased.

Death row

In 1972, in the US Supreme Court decision in ''

Furman v. Georgia ''Furman v. Georgia'', 408 U.S. 238 (1972), was a landmark criminal case in which the United States Supreme Court invalidated all then existing legal constructions for the death penalty in the United States. It was 5–4 decision, with each memb ...

'', the court found application of the death penalty so arbitrary under existing state laws that it was unconstitutional. It suspended executions for all persons on death row in the United States (slightly more than 600, overwhelmingly male) under current state laws in the United States, and ordered state courts to judicially amend their sentences to the next lower level of severity, generally life in prison. Louisiana passed a new death penalty statute, which was overturned by the state supreme court in 1977 for its application to convictions for rape. The death penalty statute was amended again, effective September 1977. Louisiana did not execute any prisoners until 1983. According to Louisiana Department of Corrections policy, inmates on death row are held in solitary confinement during the entire time they are incarcerated, even if appeals take years. This means that they are severely isolated and confined to their windowless cells for 23 hours per day. For one hour per day an inmate may take a shower and/or move up and down the halls under escort. Three times a week an inmate is permitted to use the exercise yard. Death row inmates are allowed to have several books at a time, and each inmate may have one five-minute personal telephone call per month. They may not participate in education or work programs. Death row inmates receive unlimited visitor access.Varnado, Michael L. and Daniel P. Smith. ''Victims of Dead Man Walking''.

, 2003
183
Retrieved from

on November 2, 2010. , . Officers patrol the death row corridors nightly as a suicide prevention tactic. Nick Trenticosta, a New Orleans attorney with the ACLU who is involved with prison issues, has said that warden Burl Cain treated death row inmates in a more favorable manner than did wardens of other death row prisons in the United States. Trenticosta said, "It is not that these guys had super privileges. But Warden Cain was somewhat responsive to not only prisoners, but to their families." In March 2017, three death row inmates at Angola filed a federal class-action suit against the prison and LDOC over its solitary confinement policy, charging that it constituted "

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 ...

" under the 8th Amendment to the US Constitution. Each of the men had been held in solitary for more than 25 years.LIAM STACK, "3 Men on Death Row in Louisiana Sue Over Solitary Confinement"
''New York Times'', March 30, 2017; accessed March 30, 2017 The lawsuit describes basic conditions on death row: * sparse cells, hot in summer, with little natural light * lack of recreation * no hobbies * very little religion This lawsuit was settled in October 2021, requiring that inmates on death row are granted a minimum of four hours out of their cells to congregate with other incarcerated people in their tier each day, at least five hours of communal outdoor recreation each week, the ability to worship together, evening time out of their cells on their tier, at least one meal with other prisoners per day, group classes and contact visitations.Bobbi-Jeanne Misick, "Judge approves settlement in lawsuit that challenged the use of solitary confinement on death row"
''WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio'', October 1, 2021; accessed September 18, 2022

Execution

Male death row inmates are moved from the Reception Center to a cell near the

in Camp F on the day of the execution. The only person informed of the exact time when a prisoner will be transferred is the Warden; this is for security reasons and so as to not disrupt prison routine. On a scheduled execution date, an execution can occur between 6 p.m. and midnight. Michael L. Varnado and Daniel P. Smith of ''Victims of Dead Man Walking'' said that, on many occasions, the rest of Angola is not aware of the execution being carried out. In 2003 Assistant Warden of the Reception Center Lee, said that once death row inmates learn of the execution, they "get a little quieter" and " suddenly becomes more real to them." When the State of Louisiana used electrocution as its method of capital punishment, it formally referred to the anonymous executioner as "The Electrician". When the State of Louisiana referred to the executioner by name, he was called "Sam Jones", after

Sam H. Jones Samuel Houston Jones (July 15, 1897 – February 8, 1978) was the 46th Governor of Louisiana for the term from 1940 to 1944. He defeated the renowned Earl Kemp Long in the 1940 Democratic runoff primary election. Eight years later, Long the ...

, the Governor of Louisiana in power when electrocution was introduced as the capital punishment.Varnado, Michael L. and Daniel P. Smith. ''Victims of Dead Man Walking''.

, 2003
189
Retrieved from

on November 2, 2010. , .

Inmate life

Musical culture

, several Angola inmates practiced musical skills. The prison administration encourages prisoners to practice music and uses music as a reward for inmates who behave.Cannon, Hal.
The Music of Louisiana's Angola State Penitentiary
" ''

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

''. August 5, 2011. Retrieved on August 15, 2011. In the 1930s

John Lomax John Avery Lomax (September 23, 1867 – January 26, 1948) was an American teacher, a pioneering musicologist, and a folklorist who did much for the preservation of American folk music. He was the father of Alan Lomax, John Lomax Jr. and Bess Lo ...

, a

folklorist Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

, and Alan Lomax, his son, traveled throughout the U.S. South to document

African-American musical culture African-American music is an umbrella term covering a diverse range of music and musical genres largely developed by African Americans and their culture. Their origins are in musical forms that first came to be due to the condition of slave ...

. Since prison farms, including Angola, were isolated from general society, the Lomaxes believed that prisons had the purest African-American song culture, as it was not influenced by popular trends. The Lomaxes recorded several songs, which were

plantation-era songs A work song is a piece of music closely connected to a form of work, either sung while conducting a task (usually to coordinate timing) or a song linked to a task which might be a connected narrative, description, or protest song. Definitions and ...

that originated during the slavery era. The Lomaxes met

Lead Belly Huddie William Ledbetter (; January 20, 1888 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk music, folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, Virtuoso, virtuosity on the twelve-string guita ...

, a famous musician, in Angola.

Swamp blues Swamp blues is a type of Louisiana blues that developed in the Black communities of Southwest Louisiana in the 1950s.Malone, Evelyn Levingston, "Swamp Blues: Race And Vinyl From Southwest Louisiana" (2016). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertatio ...

musician

Lightnin' Slim Otis Verries Hicks, known as Lightnin' Slim (March 13, 1913 – July 27, 1974), was an American blues musician who played Louisiana blues and swamp blues for Excello Records. The blues critic ED Denson ranked him as one of the five great bl ...

also served time in Angola for manslaughter in the 1930s and early 1940s. From 1968 to 1970, WAFB-TV in Baton Rouge aired a weekly early-morning program, ''Good Morning, Angola Style'', featuring bands made up of Angola inmates. The show was hosted by Buckskin Bill Black, who developed idea for the program after meeting one of the prison's country music bands, The Westernaires, after performing at the 1967

Sexual slavery

A 2010 memoir by

, an inmate at Angola from 1961 through 2005, states that "slavery was commonplace in Angola with perhaps a quarter of the population in bondage" throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. ''

'' states that weak inmates served as sex slaves who were raped, gang-raped, and traded and sold like cattle. Rideau said that "The slave's only way out was to commit suicide, escape or kill his master." Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox, members of 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 ...

, arrived at Angola in the late 1960s. They became active members of the prison's chapter of the

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, Califo ...

, where they organized petitions and hunger strikes to protest conditions at the prison and helped new inmates protect themselves from rape and enslavement. C. Murray Henderson, one of the wardens brought in to clean up the prison, states in one of his memoirs that the systemic sexual slavery was sanctioned and facilitated by the officers.

Inmate mental health

Mental health and faith at Angola

What we do know well about Louisiana State Penitentiary regards some of their non-traditional mental health interventions. One such initiative is a faith-based prototype program for mental healthcare and

inmate A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison. ...

rehabilitation known as the Angola Prison Seminary. This model focuses on introducing inmates to faith and helping them to find value and purpose through it – be that internally or externally through serving as an Inmate Minister. Through this position, inmates are trained to offer counseling to other inmates, deliver sermons at religious services, officiate funerals for fellow prisoners, and deliver care packages to ill inmates. This model proved to be particularly effective in Louisiana State Penitentiary, especially with its "sidewalk counseling" component. In this type of guidance, the counseling inmate asks leading questions and helps to guide the other inmate to answering their own question, without revealing any type of positionality. This model positively impacted both the counselor and the advisee, as the counselor felt an increased sense of self-worth by helping someone else, and the advisee felt heard and seen, maybe for the first time in his life. ''The New York Times'' reported that this program can help inmates feel "at peace with themselves and their lives".Eckholm, Erik. "Bible college helps some at Louisiana prison find peace." ''The New York Times'' (2013): 15. Reports noted that the Bible College behind bars made the prison feel significantly more relaxed than it truly was. Faith is referenced many times as being a catalyst for positive change in the lives of lots of Louisiana State Penitentiary inmates. Author Mark Baker describes this connection in his book entitled ''You Can Change: Stories from Angola Prison and the Psychology of Personal Transformation''. Here, Baker discusses how the high rates of reincarceration among Louisiana State Penitentiary inmates serves as an extremely demoralizing and discouraging reminder of the historical and systemic factors that landed them behind bars in the first place. Given the highly religious background of many of the inmates, who come largely from Louisiana, Mississippi, and other southern states, faith has proven to be a very strong motivator for many of the inmates in Angola. Baker discusses how inmates exposed to religious practices while incarcerated often went on to find a higher purpose in themselves and better avoid future reincarceration. This faith-based approach to mental healthcare is also seen in palliative care at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Due to the largely older population of inmates at Louisiana State Penitentiary, the prison sees much higher rates of intakes than release as many men pass away while incarcerated. In partnership with the University Hospital Community Hospice program based out of New Orleans, the Louisiana State Penitentiary has introduced a hospice program for terminally ill inmates. Inmate Ministers are able to assist in counseling with the ill inmates, as well as help them practice faith if they are interested in doing so. As seen with the other responsibilities they were assigned, this serious duty proved beneficial to not only the recipients, but the Inmate Ministers as well. Though the blend of mental healthcare and faith interventions has been controversial and yielded mixed results in many spaces, research like Baker's suggests that it is working positively in Louisiana State Penitentiary. Though it is unclear why, the large role of religion, particularly

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, could be a major factor in this occurrence.

Violations of inmate rights

In 2021, a federal judge found that the Louisiana State Penitentiary violated the Americans with Disabilities Act through its treatment of inmates requiring rehabilitative services.Rold, William J. "Federal Judge Finds Unconstitutional Health Care and Violations of Americans with Disabilities Act at Louisiana State Penitentiary; Injunctive Relief to Follow." The judge, Chief U.S, District Judge Shelly D. Dick, ultimately ruled that the Louisiana State Penitentiary had committed a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and concluded her opinion by describing fifteen areas in which the prison was in need of

injunctive relief An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in pa ...

Inmate organizations

Inmate organizations include Angola Men of Integrity, the Lifers Organization, the Angola Drama Club, the Wonders of Joy, the Camp C Concept Club, and the Latin American Cultural Brotherhood. Angola is also the only penitentiary in the United States where inmates are allowed to independently run their own churches, a practice founded in the penitentiary's history with slavery, and one looked upon favorably by inmates.Hallett, Michael. "Faith at Angola Prison." ''Commonweal'' 144, no. 7 (2017): 10.

Angola Rodeo

On one weekend in April and on every Sunday in October, Angola holds the Angola Prison Rodeo. On each occasion, thousands of visitors enter the prison complex. Initiated with planning in 1964, the rodeo held its first events in 1965."Angola Prison Rodeo in Louisiana"
''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

''. Retrieved on October 22, 2010. Initially it was held for prisoner recreation, but attracted increasing crowds. The prison charges admission. Due to the rodeo's popularity, Angola built a 10,000-person stadium to support visitors; it opened in 2000. As part of the prison rodeo,McGaughy, Lauren.
Despite controversy, Angola Prison Rodeo lends inmates sense of freedom
" ''

The Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of th ...

''. April 20, 2013. Updated April 21, 2013. Retrieved on October 8, 2013. the prison holds a semiannual Arts and Crafts Festival. In 2010 it started the Angola Prison Horse Sale, also at the time of the rodeo.

Programs for fathers

Angola has two programs for fathers who are incarcerated at Angola. Returning Hearts is an event where prisoners may spend up to eight hours with their children in a

Carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...

-like celebration. Returning began in 2005; by 2010 a total of 2,500 prisoners had participated in the program. Malachi Dads is a year-long program that uses the Christian Bible as the basis of teaching how to improve a prisoner's parenting skills. Malachi began in 2007; as of 2010 it had 119 men participating. It is based on

Malachi Malachi (; ) is the traditional author of the Book of Malachi, the last book of the Nevi'im (Prophets) section of the Tanakh. According to the 1897 ''Easton's Bible Dictionary'', it is possible that Malachi is not a proper name, as it simply mean ...

4:6, "He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers ..."

Notable inmates

Death row and non-death row

Nathaniel Code Nathaniel Robert Code Jr. (born March 12, 1956) is an American serial killer, stalker, and rapist who committed at least eight murders in the city of Shreveport, Louisiana, between 1984 and 1987. He was sentenced to death in 1990 for four of th ...

Antoinette Frank Antoinette Renee Frank (born April 30, 1971) is a former officer of the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) who, on March 4, 1995, committed a violent armed robbery at a restaurant which resulted in the killing of two members of the Vietnamese- ...

Derrick Todd Lee Derrick Todd Lee (November 5, 1968 – January 21, 2016), also known as The Baton Rouge Serial Killer, was an American serial killer. Between 1992 and 2003, Lee murdered seven women in the Baton Rouge area. Prior to his murder charges, Lee had be ...

Johnson, Allen Jr.
Shared Fate
" ''

Gambit Weekly ''Gambit'' (formerly ''Gambit Weekly'') is a New Orleans, Louisiana-based free alternative weekly newspaper established in 1981. ''Gambit'' features reporting about local politics, news, food and drink, arts, music, film, events, environmental ...

''. March 20, 2001. Retrieved on October 2, 2010. *

Gary Tyler Gary Tyler (born July 1958), from St. Rose, Louisiana, is an African-American man who is a former prisoner at the Louisiana State Prison in Angola, Louisiana. He was convicted of the October 7, 1974 shooting death of a white 13-year-old boy and ...

Executed

* Gerald James Bordelon – Executed in 2010 (last execution in Louisiana) *

John A. Brown, Jr. John Ashley Brown Jr. (c.1962/1963 – April 24, 1997) was an American from New Orleans who was convicted of first-degree murder and incarcerated on death row in Louisiana State Penitentiary for 12 years. He was one of six inmates featured in th ...

– Executed in 1997 * Jimmy L. Glass – Executed in 1987 * Antonio G. James – Executed in 1996 * Andrew Lee Jones – Executed in 1991 (last execution via electric chair in Louisiana) * Leslie Lowenfield – Executed in 1998 *

Leslie Dale Martin Leslie Dale Martin (April 24, 1967 – May 10, 2002) was an American convicted murderer who was executed by the state of Louisiana for the June 1991 rape and murder of 19-year-old Christina Burgin. He remains the most recent person executed invo ...

– Executed in 2002 (last involuntary execution in Louisiana) * Dalton Prejean – Executed in 1990 * Robert Wayne Sawyer – Executed in 1993 (first execution via lethal injection in Louisiana) * Elmo Patrick Sonnier – Executed in 1984 * Feltus Taylor, Jr. – Executed in 2000 * Thomas Lee Ward – Executed in 1995 *

Dobie Gillis Williams Dobie Gillis Williams (1961 – January 8, 1999) was an American criminal in Louisiana who was convicted of the murder of Sonja Knippers in 1984, and sentenced to death. He was executed in 1999. His case has been controversial. Police contended th ...

– Executed in 1999 * Robert Wayne Williams – Executed in 1983 (first execution since 1976 in Louisiana) *

Robert Lee Willie Robert Lee Willie (January 2, 1958 – December 28, 1984) was an American serial killer who killed at least three people in Louisiana from the late 1970s to 1980. He was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of 18-year-old Faith Hathaway and ...

– Executed in 1984 * Jimmy C. Wingo – Executed in 1987

Non-death row

* Frank Lee Morris *

C-Murder Corey Miller (born March 9, 1971), better known by his stage name C-Murder, is an American rapper and songwriter. He initially gained fame in the mid-1990s as a part of his brother Master P's label No Limit Records, primarily as a member of the ...

(

Robert Hillary King Robert Hillary King (born May 30, 1942), also known as Robert King Wilkerson, is an American known as one of the Angola Three, former prisoners who were held at Louisiana State Penitentiary in solitary confinement for decades after being convict ...

, Herman Wallace, and Albert Woodfox) *

James Booker James Carroll Booker III (December 17, 1939 – November 8, 1983) was a New Orleans rhythm and blues keyboardist born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Booker's unique style combined rhythm and blues with jazz standards. Musician Dr. J ...

Lil Boosie Torence Ivy Hatch (born November 14, 1982), better known by his stage name Boosie BadAzz or simply Boosie (formerly Lil Boosie), is an American rapper. Hatch began rapping in the 1990s as a member of the hip hop collective Concentration Camp, ev ...

* Jack Favor, rodeo performer and manager framed for two murders in 1964 in

Bossier Parish Bossier Parish ( ; french: Paroisse de Bossier) is a parish located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2010 census, the population was 116,979, and 128,746 in 2020. The parish seat is Benton. The principal city is ...

; he was convicted and imprisoned from 1967 until his release after acquittal in a second trial in 1974. He helped initiate the Angola Prison Rodeo and make it a major event * Sean Vincent Gillis * Patrick O'Neal Kennedy (defendant in ''

Kennedy v. Louisiana ''Kennedy v. Louisiana'', 554 U.S. 407 (2008), is a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that held that the Eighth Amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause prohibits imposing the death penalty for the rape of a chi ...

'') * Huddie William Ledbetter (

) – Camp A, folk and blues musician *

Carlos Marcello Carlos Joseph Marcello (; born Calogero Minacore ; February 6, 1910 – March 3, 1993) was an Italian-American crime boss of the New Orleans crime family from 1947 until the late 1980s. Aside from his role in the American Mafia, he is also ...

, organized crime figure * H. Lane Mitchell, Shreveport public works commissioner from 1934 to 1968; imprisoned after 1971 for theft of municipal properties valued at nearly $85,000 *

* Marlowe Parker (artist) *

Robert Pete Williams Robert Pete Williams (March 14, 1914 – December 31, 1980) was an American Louisiana blues musician. His music characteristically employed unconventional structures and guitar tunings, and his songs are often about the time he served in pris ...

* Clifford Etienne *

Ronald Dominique Ronald Joseph Dominique (born January 9, 1964), known as The Bayou Strangler, is an American serial killer and rapist who murdered at least 23 men and boys in the state of Louisiana between 1997 and 2006. On September 23, 2008, Dominique was foun ...

* Vincent Simmons * Charles Neville (musician) *

Freddy Fender Freddy Fender (born Baldemar Garza Huerta; June 4, 1937 – October 14, 2006) was an American Tejano, country and rock and roll musician, known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados. He was best ...

, Tejano country and rock-and-roll musician * Henry Montgomery *

Will Hayden William Michale Hayden (born June 24, 1965) is a former American gunsmith, television personality, U.S. Marine, former gun shop owner, and convicted child molester. He is best known as the star of the 2011–2014 Discovery Channel reality serie ...

, reality TV host and gunsmith * Clementine Barnabet, early 20th century voodoo priestess and axe murderer.

Notable employees

(Warden 1995–2015) *

Billy Cannon William Abb Cannon (August 2, 1937 – May 20, 2018) was an American football Halfback (American football), halfback, Fullback (American football), fullback and tight end who played professionally in the American Football League (AFL) and Nati ...

(dentist) * John Whitley (former Warden 1990–1995) * George Gray (former prison guard)

Cultural references

Musical references

The prison has held many musicians and been the subject of a number of songs. Folk singer

served over four years of his attempted murder sentence and was released early from Angola for good behavior.

Tex-Mex Tex-Mex cuisine (from the words ''Texan'' and ''Mexican'') is an American cuisine that derives from the culinary creations of the ''Tejano'' people of Texas. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others in the Southwestern United ...

artist

was pardoned from there. The song "Grown So Ugly" by American blues musician and ex-convict

references Angola. The song's lyrics have some basis in fact, as Williams was imprisoned there and was officially pardoned (from a murder charge) in 1964, the year the song says that he left the prison. The classic

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

song "

Junco Partner "Junco Partner", also known as "Junco Partner (Worthless Man)", is a blues song first recorded by James Waynes in 1951.

" includes the lines: In

the Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...

's version of "Junco Partner", the lines are a little bit different: Aaron and Charles Neville wrote "Angola Bound": Angola also features in the Neville Brothers song "Sons and Daughters" on the album ''Brother's Keeper''.

Folklorist Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

Harry Oster recorded "Angola Prison Worksongs" for his Folklyric Records in 1959, now re-released on

Arhoolie Records Arhoolie Records is an American small independent record label run by Chris Strachwitz and is based in El Cerrito, California, United States (it is actually located in Richmond Annex but has an El Cerrito postal address.) The label was founded b ...

. According to Oster, between 1929 and 1940, 10,000

flogging Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on ...

s were carried out in Angola. Singer

Gil Scott-Heron Gilbert Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American Jazz poetry, jazz poet, singer, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician ...

wrote and recorded the song "Angola, Louisiana" on his 1978 album with Brian Jackson, ''

Secrets Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...

''. The song deals with the imprisonment of inmate

. Canadian blues and roots musician

Rita Chiarelli Rita Chiarelli is a Canadian blues singer. She was called "the goddess of Canadian blues" by Shelagh Rogers at CBC Radio One. Biography Born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Chiarelli began performing in Ronnie Hawkins' band in the early 1980s ...

filmed the documentary "Music From the Big House" at Angola in 2010. The film, directed by Bruce McDonald, focuses on a concert at the prison, organized by Chiarelli, that featured four bands comprising musicians incarcerated in Angola. Comprising the entire B-Side of his album '' Remedies'', New Orleans musician

Dr. John Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer and songwriter. His music encompassed New Orleans blues, jazz, funk, and R&B. Active as a session musician from ...

features an extended 17:35 song titled "Angola Anthem". Singer-songwriter Myshkin recorded "Angola" in 1998 for her album ''Blue Gold''. The song refers to the case of former Angola warden C. Murray Henderson, who was sentenced to 50 years in prison for the attempted murder of his wife, writer Anne Butler: New Orleans rap artist Juvenile has part of a verse in the

Hot Boys The Hot Boys (often styled as Hot Boy$) are an American hip hop group formed in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1997. The group is made up of B.G., Lil Wayne, Juvenile and Turk. The group was originally formed in 1997, and released their debut rec ...

song "Dirty World" that says: New Orleans pianist

mentions Angola prison in his cover of "

Goodnight, Irene "Goodnight, Irene" or "Irene, Goodnight," is a 20th-century American folk standard, written in time, first recorded by American blues musician Huddie 'Lead Belly' Ledbetter in 1933. A version recorded by the Weavers was a #1 hit in 1950. The ...

"; where he was sent for heroin possession: (As Booker was less than 10 years old when Lead Belly died, they would not have been there at the same time.)

Ray Davies Sir Raymond Douglas Davies ( ; born 21 June 1944) is an English musician. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and main songwriter for the rock band the Kinks, which he led with his younger brother Dave on lead guitar and backing voc ...

has recorded a song entitled "Angola (Wrong Side of the Law)", which was released as a bonus track on the expanded release of '' Working Man's Café'' in February 2008. The American folk singer

David Dondero David Dondero (born 24 June 1969 in Duluth, Minnesota, United States) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. In 2006, NPR's All Songs Considered named David one of the "best living songwriters" alongside Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and T ...

in the song "20 years" describes the experiences of a prisoner released from Angola prison: Jazz trumpeter

Christian Scott Christian Scott (born March 31, 1983), known professionally as Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah (formerly Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah), is an American jazz trumpeter, multi instrumentalist, composer, and producer. He has been nominated for six Gramm ...

has a track on his 2010 album '' Yesterday You Said Tomorrow'' called "Angola, LA & the 13th Amendment" Texas Country Music artist,

Sam Riggs Sam Riggs is an American country music singer-songwriter. Biography Sam Riggs was born in St. Cloud, Florida. He moved to Austin, Texas in August 2007 when he was 19 years old. He worked in manual labour but also performed his songs in local ca ...

of Sam Riggs and the Night People (Austin, Texas) wrote and recorded a song called "Angola's Lament". It was released in 2013 on the ''Outrun the Sun'' album. American folk rock duo

Indigo Girls Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo from Atlanta, Georgia, United States, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. The two met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part o ...

reference Angola in the song "The Rise of the Black Messiah" from their 2015 album

One Lost Day ''One Lost Day'' is the 14th studio album by Indigo Girls, released on June 2, 2015, on IG Recordings/Vanguard Records. It was recorded at various studios in Nashville. The title ''One Lost Day'' comes from the lyrics of "Alberta." Track listing ...

Books about Angola

* ''In the Place of Justice: A Story of Punishment and Deliverance'' by Wilbert Rideau (Knopf, 2010) * ''Cain's Redemption'' by Dennis Shere * '' Dead Man Walking'' by Sister

Helen Prejean Helen Prejean ( ; born April 21, 1939) is a Catholic religious sister and a leading American advocate for the abolition of the death penalty. She is known for her best-selling book, '' Dead Man Walking'' (1993), based on her experiences with t ...

* ''God of the Rodeo'' by Daniel Bergner * ''The Search for Hope, Faith, and a Six-Second Ride in Louisiana's Angola Prison'' – Daniel Bergner –

Crown Publishers The Crown Publishing Group is a subsidiary of Penguin Random House that publishes across several fiction and non-fiction categories. Originally founded in 1933 as a remaindered books wholesaler called Outlet Book Company, the firm expanded int ...

* Life Sentences, edited by Wilbert Rideau and Ron Wikberg (Random House, 1992) * A Life in the Balance: The Billy Wayne Sinclair Story by Billy Wayne Sinclair. * The prison is referred to in ''

A Confederacy of Dunces ''A Confederacy of Dunces'' is a picaresque novel by American novelist John Kennedy Toole which reached publication in 1980, eleven years after Toole's death. Published through the efforts of writer Walker Percy (who also contributed a foreword) a ...

'' by Jones when describing the racial inequality in the New Orleans judicial system. * The main character of Poppy Z. Brite's novel '' The Lazarus Heart'' is sent to Angola for the murder of his lover. * ''

The House That Herman Built ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' by Herman Wallace of the Angola 3, co-written with artist Jackie Sumell * An attempt at chemically-induced social control at Angola is a major part of the plot in

Walker Percy Walker Percy, OSB (May 28, 1916 – May 10, 1990) was an American writer whose interests included philosophy and semiotics. Percy is noted for his philosophical novels set in and around New Orleans; his first, ''The Moviegoer'', won the Nat ...

's novel '' The Thanatos Syndrome.''

Non-fiction books about Angola

* Butler, Anne and C. Murray Henderson, ''Angola. Dying to Tell'' (Lafayette, LA: The Center for Louisiana Studies, 1992) * Butler, Anne and C. Murray Henderson, ''Angola Louisiana State Penitentiary: A Half-Century of Rage and Reform'' (Lafayette, LA: The Center for Louisiana Studies, 1990) * Carleton, Mark T., ''Politics and Punishment: The History of Louisiana State Penal System'' (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1971) *Foster, Burk, Wilbert Rideau and Douglas Dennis (Editors), '' The Wall is Strong: Corrections in Louisiana'' (Lafayette, LA: The Center for Louisiana Studies, 1995) *Howard, Robert, ''The other side of the coin: The spiritual life of a black man held captive in Angola prison 40 years'' (Austin TX: 78764, 2006) *King, Robert Hillary King, ''From the bottom of the heap: The autobiography of Black Panther Robert Hillary King'' (Oakland, CA: PM Press, 2009) * Mouledous, Joseph Clarence, ''Sociological Perspectives on a Prison Social System'' Unpublished Master's Thesis, (Department of Sociology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, 1962) *Pelot-Hobbs, Lydia "The Contested Terrain of the Louisiana Carceral State" Unpublished Dissertation, (Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, CUNY Graduate Center, New York City, 2019). *Woodfox, Albert, ''Solitary: Unbroken by Four Decades in Solitary Confinement. My Story of Transformation and Hope'' (New York: Grove Press, 2019)

Articles about Angola

* Maya Schenwar, "America's Plantation Prisons", ''Global Research'' (August 30, 2008) * "Witness – Death Behind Bars – Part 1". ''

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

'' * "Witness – Death Behind Bars – Part 2". ''Al Jazeera''
Cindy Chang, "Louisiana Is the World's Prison", ''The Times-Picayune'' (May 13, 2012)
* Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, "Organized Inside and Out: The Angola Special Civics Project and the Crisis of Mass Incarceration", ''Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society'' 15:3 (2013), 199–217.

Other references

*Angola was featured in the documentary '' The Farm: Angola, USA'' (1998). *Angola Prison was featured in

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of '' Midnight Express'' (1978), and wrote the gangster film remake '' Sc ...

's movie ''

JFK John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

''. The scene where

Jim Garrison James Carothers Garrison (born Earling Carothers Garrison; November 20, 1921 – October 21, 1992) was the District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Louisiana, from 1962 to 1973. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he ...

(

Kevin Costner Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor, producer, film director and musician. He has received various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Screen Actor ...

), along with Bill Broussard (

Michael Rooker Michael Rooker (born April 6, 1955) is an American actor known for his roles as Henry in '' Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer'' (1986), Chick Gandil in ''Eight Men Out'' (1988), Frank Baily in '' Mississippi Burning'' (1988), Terry Cruger in '' ...

), goes to interview Willie O'Keefe (

Kevin Bacon Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American actor. His films include the musical-drama film '' Footloose'' (1984), the controversial historical conspiracy legal thriller '' JFK'' (1991), the legal drama '' A Few Good Men'' (1992), t ...

) is portrayed as having taken place at Angola Prison. *Angola Prison was mentioned in the 2007

Coen brothers Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...

film ''

No Country for Old Men ''No Country for Old Men'' is a 2007 American neo-Western crime thriller film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, based on Cormac McCarthy's 2005 novel of the same name. Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin, th ...

''. *Actor

William Hurt William McChord Hurt (March 20, 1950 – March 13, 2022) was an American actor. Known for his performances on stage and screen, he received various awards including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award and Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor. ...

prepared for his role in the 2008 remake of ''

The Yellow Handkerchief The Yellow Handkerchief or Yellow Handkerchief may refer to: * ''The Yellow Handkerchief'' (1977 film), Japanese film *''Yellow Handkerchief'', 2003 television program broadcast by Korean Broadcasting System * ''The Yellow Handkerchief'' (2008 fil ...

'' (2008) by spending four days at the Penitentiary, including an overnight stay, rare for a volunteer, in a maximum-security cell. In a 2010 interview, he spoke of having a three-hour sight-unseen (around the corner of the dividing wall) talk with his next-door neighbor that night. He also said "the bed has about an inch-and-a-half-thick mattress on sheer steel. The toilet has no soft seat. The floor is marbleized concrete. It's horrible. It's unthinkable." He felt mostly sorrow for the inmates he got to know, "85 percent of the people in there are going to die there." In the film, he played an ex-con released after serving a six-year sentence in a Louisiana prison for "an accidental bit of trouble". *In season 6, episode 15 of the TV series ''

Bones A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, a ...

'', an inmate is threatened with a transfer to Angola should he not cooperate with an investigation. *Sister Prejean's book ''Dead Man Walking'', about prisoners on death row, inspired numerous works, including adaptations as a

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

, an opera, and a play. *The prison is the central setting for the

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily ...

documentary series ''Louisiana Lockdown'', which debuted in 2012. *The feature film ''

Whiskey Bay ''Bad Country'' (also known as ''Whiskey Bay'') is a 2014 American crime drama film based on a true story starring Matt Dillon, Willem Dafoe, Amy Smart, and Tom Berenger. The film started shooting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge and Angola ...

'' (2013), starring

Willem Dafoe Willem James Dafoe (; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, in addition to receiving nominations for four Academy Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, t ...

and

Matt Dillon Matthew Raymond Dillon (born February 18, 1964) is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including an Oscar and Grammy nomination. Dillon made his feature film debut in '' Over the Edge'' (1979) and established himself as a te ...

, started shooting in

and at the Angola penitentiary on August 7, 2012. *Angola Prison was mentioned in

season one Season One may refer to: Albums * ''Season One'' (Suburban Legends album), 2004 * ''Season One'' (All Sons & Daughters album), 2012 * ''Season One'' (Saukrates album), 2012 See also * * * Season 2 (disambiguation) * Season 4 (disambiguat ...

of the TV series ''

True Detective ''True Detective'' is an American anthology crime drama television series created and written by Nic Pizzolatto. The series, broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States, premiered on January 12, 2014. Each season of the ...

''. *The casket for

Billy Graham William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christi ...

was made by a male inmate, a senior carpenter named Richard, nicknamed "the Grasshopper", who had been convicted for murder, and in residence there 35 years, at Angola.

References

*Schrift, Melissa (Assistant Professor Anthropology,

East Tennessee State University East Tennessee State University (ETSU) is a public research university in Johnson City, Tennessee. Although it is part of the State University and Community College System of Tennessee, the university is governed by an institutional Board of Tr ...

). "Angola Prison Art: Captivity, Creativity, and Consumerism." ''

The Journal of American Folklore The ''Journal of American Folklore'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Folklore Society. Since 2003, this has been done on its behalf by the University of Illinois Press. The journal has been published since the society' ...

''. Vol. 119, No. 473, Summer, 2006. pp. 257–274. 10.1353/jaf.2006.0035
Available at

Jstor JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...

Available at

Highbeam Research HighBeam Research was a paid search engine and full text online archive owned by Gale, a subsidiary of Cengage, for thousands of newspapers, magazines, academic journals, newswires, trade magazines, and encyclopedias in English. It was headquar ...

Available at

Project MUSE Project MUSE, a non-profit collaboration between libraries and publishers, is an online database of peer-reviewed academic journals and electronic books. Project MUSE contains digital humanities and social science content from over 250 university ...

Footnotes

''. Monday July 10, 2000. Retrieved on January 1, 2010. * Angola Airstrip:
"Map from 1858"
showing the location of Angola plantation in Louisiana
Andrew Testa photos of the rodeo and death chamberAngola Museum Oral History Project
a
The Historic New Orleans CollectionWest Feliciana Historical Society MuseumWest Feliciana Tourist Commission
{{authority control 1901 establishments in Louisiana Capital punishment in Louisiana Prisons in Louisiana Angolan-American history Buildings and structures in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana Women's prisons in Louisiana Execution sites in the United States Louisiana populated places on the Mississippi River

History

20th century operations

21st century

Management

Location

Composition

Inmate-quarters

Main Prison Complex

Outcamps

=Reception center and death row

B-Line

Fire station

Religious sites

Recreational facilities

Prison View Golf Course

Guest house

Cemeteries

Angola Museum

Angola Airstrip

Other prison facilities and features

History of infrastructure at the prison

Red Hat Cell Block

Demographics

Operations

Farming

Inmate education

Manufacturing

Magazine

Radio

Television

Burial of the deceased

Death row

Execution

Inmate life

Musical culture

Sexual slavery

Inmate mental health

Mental health and faith at Angola

Violations of inmate rights

Inmate organizations

Angola Rodeo

Programs for fathers

Notable inmates

Death row and non-death row

Executed

Non-death row

Notable employees

Cultural references

Musical references

Books about Angola

Non-fiction books about Angola

Articles about Angola

Other references

See also

References

Footnotes

Further reading

External links