VINTAGE PHOTO MEASURING APPROXIMATELY 7 X 9 INCHES. THE MEN IN STRIPES, JAMES BIRD, WILLIAM BRYANT, AND JAMES DEAR, CHARGED WHEN QUESTIONED BY OFFICIALS IN THIS PICTURE THAT THEY WERE FORCED TO MAKE A BREAK AND SHOOT THEIR WAY OUT OF THE LOUISIANA STATE PENITENTIARY, THE 25,000 ACRE PENAL FARM, BECAUSE THEY WERE GOING TO BE PUT “ON THE SPOT” BY TRUSTY GUARDS. THEY SAID THEY HAD THREATENED BY ARNOLD DAVIS, CONVICT TRUSTY GUARD, WHO MORE THAN A WEEK BEFORE HAD SHOT JIM YARNELL IN THE BACK IN COLD BLOODED MURDER. THEY SAID DAVIS BRAGGED THAT HE HAD GOTTEN ONE PARDON FOR SHOOTING A MAN AND HE WAS GOING TO GET ANOTHER. FOUR PERSONS WERE KILLED IN THE BREAK. IN THE PICTURE ARE LISTED FROM (LEFT TO RIGHT) ARE SHERIFF ED WILCOX OF WEST FELICIANA PARISH WHERE THE PENITENTIARY IS LOCATED; JAMES BIRD, ORLEANS PARISH CONVICT; WILLIAM BRYANT, CADDO PARISH CONVICT; CHIEF OF POLICE KING STRENZKE OF BATON ROUGE; JAMES DEAR, RAPIDES PARISH CONVICT; AND TSANDING DISTRICT ATTORNEY JOHN FRED ODOM AND SHERIFF R. PETTIT OF EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH. THESE MEN WITH FOUR OTHERS, WILL BE TRIED FOR MURDER IN WEST FELICIANS PARISH FOR DEATHS OF CAPT. SINGLETON, THE PRISON GUARD DAVIS, AND J. FLETCHER, A FOREMAN, WHO WERE KILLED DURING THE BREAK. 1935 Despair, A Mass Escape, and The Red Hat Cell Block. As the Great Depression and World War II became the public’s main concern, Angola faded from public scrutiny and collapsed into despair, the State significantly cut its budget, and it became concealed in secrecy, corruption, and brutality. With inmate mortality rates significantly high, a mass escape was organized in 1933 by Charlie Frazier, one of Angola’s most notorious prisoners. In the process of the escape, a Captain and two convict guards were killed. The successful mass escape led to Angola building its first cell block, The Red Hat, for inmates it considered as the most dangerous. It received its name because inmates housed there were required to wear hats dipped in red paint to be immediately identifiable to guards while working in the fields. The infamous legacy of the Red Hat is shrouded in myth and legend, and it allegedly subjected its inhabitants to unparalleled conditions. Guard James Fletcher, Captain John Singleton, and Trustee Guard Arnold Davis were shot and killed during an escape of 12 prisoners from the Angola Prison. The prisoners had obtained several firearms and attempted to force Captain Singleton to escort them out of the prison. He was shot several times when he refused. The inmates then attempted to gain access to the armory but were confronted by Trustee Guard Arnold Davis and Guard James Fletcher, who were both killed in the ensuing shootout. After gaining obtaining numerous weapons from the armory the men then stole a car from the visitors lot and fled through the main gate. One of the inmates was killed as guards fired into the vehicle as it drove through the gate. One of the ringleaders of the escape had previously been convicted of murdering Policeman Hence Giles, of the Texarkana, Arkansas, Police Department on July 16th, 1926, and Constable Lee Selman, of Little River County, Arkansas, on June 19th, 1928. The man was arrested the following month and charged with Captain Singleton’s murder. Guard Fletcher was survived by his wife. Captain John Singleton, Guard Arnold Davis, and Guard James Fletcher were shot and killed during an escape of 12 prisoners from the Angola Prison. Captain Singleton was survived by his wife. Trustee Guard Arnold Davis, Guard James Fletcher, and Captain John Singleton were shot and killed during an escape of 12 prisoners from the Angola Prison. After obtaining numerous weapons from the armory the men then stole a car from the visitors lot and fled through the main gate. West Feliciana Parish (French: Paroisse de Feliciana Ouest) is a parish located in the U. As of the 2010 census, the population was 15,625. [1] The parish seat is St. [2] The parish was established in 1824. In 1824 Feliciana Parish was divided into East and West, in recognition of the increases in population throughout the parish. West Feliciana Parish is part of the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The River Bend Nuclear Generating Station, operated by Entergy Nuclear, is located in West Feliciana Parish below St. It produces approximately 10 percent of the total electric power demand in Louisiana. The Louisiana State Penitentiary is also located in the parish, in Angola. It occupies 18,000 acres at a site in a river bend, surrounded on three sides by water. 18th & 19th centuries. West Feliciana & national politics. Adjacent parishes and counties. This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: “West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana” – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message). Bayou Sara seen from the Mississippi, late 1840s; St. Francisville on the rise in the background. Following the founding of the Bayou Sara settlement by French Franciscan/Capuchin monks in the late 17th century, the area was explored further by France, Spain, and Great Britain. The original settlement was flooded repeatedly and finally lost to the waters of the Mississippi River. After 1763, when France was defeated by Britain in the Seven Years’ War, it ceded its territories of La Louisiane east of the Mississippi River to Great Britain, which included it in its West Florida province. Spain gained control of the area in about 1780 – during the American Revolutionary War – and maintained its authority in the area for the next three decades. In 1810, the colonists, many of whom were of British descent, rebelled against the Spanish colonial regime and established the short-lived independent Republic of West Florida. (Today this region is called the Florida Parishes). Feliciana Parish was established in 1810, in the Territory of Orleans, which was admitted to the Union two years later as the state of Louisiana. With continued growth of population, in 1824 Feliciana Parish was divided into the East Feliciana and West Feliciana parishes. During the American Civil War, West Feliciana Parish provided financial assistance to the families of soldiers fighting for the Confederate States of America. Since before the Civil War, white conservative voters in West Feliciana historically supported the Democratic Party. After Louisiana effectively disenfranchised most black voters under provisions of its 1898 constitution, the state joined others in the South as being a one-party state. The white-dominated legislature passed increasingly stringent Jim Crow and segregation legislation. But after passage of Federal civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s, including protection of constitutional voting rights, many white conservatives in the South began to shift to the Republican Party, at least in terms of supporting Presidential candidates. In 1972, the year of Richard Nixon’s re-election as President, after widespread anti-war protests and other cultural changes, West Feliciana was the only Louisiana parish to support the Democratic ticket of George McGovern and Sargent Shriver. During the same period, most African Americans in the South began to support the national Democratic Party, which had helped their drive for civil rights. Since 2000, white voters in the parish have supported the Republican Party candidates in Presidential elections. That year Bush-Cheney polled 2,512 votes (55 percent), compared to 2,187 (45 percent) for Democrats Al Gore and Joe Lieberman. West Feliciana voters helped to re-elect George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in 2004, with 2,932 (56 percent) to 2,214 (42 percent) over Democratic candidates John Kerry and John Edwards. Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin won the parish in 2008, but they lost the Presidential/Vice-Presidential contest to Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden. According to the U. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of 426 square miles (1,100 km2), of which 403 square miles (1,040 km2) is land and 23 square miles (60 km2) (5.3%) is water. The parish is located on the Mississippi River, and is bordered by Pointe Coupee Parish to the west and East Feliciana Parish to the east. The parish is about 30 miles (48 km) north of Baton Rouge and about 60 miles (97 km) south of Natchez, Mississippi. The area-including references to the loess soil and Louisiana State Penitentiary-was used by author Walker Percy as the setting for his last novel, The Thanatos Syndrome. Svg Louisiana Highway 10. Svg Louisiana Highway 66. Wilkinson County, Mississippi (north). East Feliciana Parish (east). East Baton Rouge Parish (south). West Baton Rouge Parish (south). Pointe Coupee Parish (southwest). Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge. As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 15,625 people residing in the parish. 52.0% were White, 46.5% Black of African American, 0.2% Asian, 0.1% Native American, 0.6% of some other race and 0.6% of two or more races. 1.6% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race). As of the census[13] of 2000, there were 15,111 people, 3,645 households, and 2,704 families residing in the parish. The population density was 37 people per square mile (14/km²). There were 4,485 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile (4/km²). The racial makeup of the parish was 50.51% Black or African American, 48.63% White, 0.20% Native American, 0.17% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.03% from other races, and 0.44% from two or more races. 1.04% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 3,645 households out of which 38.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.10% were married couples living together, 15.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.80% were non-families. 23.10% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.73 and the average family size was 3.24. In the parish the population was spread out with 20.30% under the age of 18, 8.70% from 18 to 24, 40.00% from 25 to 44, 23.80% from 45 to 64, and 7.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 191.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 223.60 males. About 15.00% of families and 19.90% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.30% of those under age 18 and 23.40% of those age 65 or over. In January 2007 the State of Louisiana estimated that 15,318 people lived in the parish, with 5,000 of them being prisoners at Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola). Louisiana State Penitentiary of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections is located in unincorporated West Feliciana Parish. The entrance to the West Feliciana Parish Public Schools schools complex in Bains. West Feliciana Parish Public Schools serves the parish. All residents are zoned to Bains Lower Elementary School, Bains Elementary School, West Feliciana Middle School, and West Feliciana High School. [16] Tunica Elementary School, a parish elementary school, was closed after the parish school board voted to close the school in May 2011. Some students in the parish attend Wilkinson County Christian Academy in Wilkinson County, Mississippi. The West Feliciana Parish Library is located in St. [19] The library, previously a part of the Audubon Regional Library System, became independent in January 2004. The parish’s proximity to Baton Rouge offers access to Louisiana State University, Southern University, and Baton Rouge Community College. Founded in 1892, the St. Francisville Democrat was the parish’s local newspaper and served as the official journal for the parish’s governmental bodies. The paper, founded by W. Leake and his wife May, was originally called The True Democrat. After Leake’s death, May Leake married Elrie Robinson and they continued publication of the newspaper. [21] After May’s death in the 1920s, Robinson remarried. The paper was later published by Elrie’s son James M. The newspaper was bought by Louisiana Suburban Press in 1979. Louisiana Suburban Press is part of Louisiana State Newspapers, owned by B. Owner of The Advocate (a major newspaper of Baton Rouge) and of other newspapers in the region. The Feliciana Explorer is an independent publication mailed to residents of East and West Feliciana. It is owned and published by Daniel Duggan, who also owns the Zachary Post. Founded in 1976, The Angolite is a news magazine created and published at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. [22] Each year, it publishes six issues. Map of West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana With Municipal Labels. Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola). General Robert Hilliard Barrow (February 5, 1922 – October 30, 2008) was the 27th Commandant of the United States Marine Corps (USMC) from 1979 to 1983. Barrow served for 41 years, including overseas command duty in three wars. He was awarded the Navy Cross and the Distinguished Service Cross. He grew up on his family’s Rosale Plantation in West Feliciana Parish. He is interred at the Grace Episcopal Church Cemetery in St. Rob Couhig, New Orleans businessman and politician, was reared in West Feliciana Parish. Warren Davis Folkes, member of both houses of the Louisiana legislature from West Feliciana Parish from 1944 to 1976. Francisville attorney and state senator who authored the Lawrason Act of 1898. LeBlanc, III, lawyer and politician; half-brother of Rob Couhig, retired to St. Tom McVea, state representative. John Richard Rarick, attorney and U. Major Thibaut, state representative since 2008 for District 18, which includes West Feliciana Parish; businessman from Pointe Coupee Parish. Toler, state senator from East and West Feliciana parishes from 1944 to 1954; physician from Clinton, Louisiana. The Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola, and nicknamed the “Alcatraz of the South”, “The Angola Plantation” and “The Farm”[8]) is a maximum-security prison farm in Louisiana operated by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. It is named “Angola” after the former plantation that occupied this territory. The plantation was named for the African country that was the origin of many slaves brought to Louisiana. Angola is the largest maximum-security prison in the United States[10] with 6,300 prisoners and 1,800 staff, including corrections officers, janitors, maintenance, and wardens. Located in West Feliciana Parish, the prison is set between oxbow lakes on the east side of a bend of the Mississippi River, so it is surrounded on three sides by water. It lies less than two miles south of Louisiana’s straight east-west border with Mississippi. The 18,000 acres (73 km2) of land the prison sits on was known before the American Civil War as the Angola Plantations and was owned by Isaac Franklin. The prison is located at the end of Louisiana Highway 66, around 22 miles (35 km) northwest of St. Burl Cain served as the warden from 1995 to March 7, 2016. [11] He was known for making numerous improvements and lowering the rate of violence at the prison, but court challenges to harsh conditions there have continued. Death row for men and the state execution chamber for both sexes are located at the Angola facility. 4.1.2.1. Reception center and death row. Prison View Golf Course. Other prison facilities and features. History of infrastructure at the prison. Red Hat Cell Block. Burial of the deceased. Non-fiction books about Angola. Picking cotton at Angola, c. River Boat America with Convicts and supplies on the Mississippi River headed for Angola. Riverboat America with convicts and supplies, on the Mississippi River headed for Angola, circa late 1800s. In the photo is Lead Belly, a singer who was jailed at Angola when recorded by Alan Lomax. Old cell block no longer in use. John Whitley, who served as a warden at Angola. The former Angola execution chamber at the Red Hat Cell Block. The electric chair is a replica of the original “Gruesome Gertie”. Before 1835, state inmates were held in a jail in New Orleans. The first Louisiana State Penitentiary, located at the intersection of 6th and Laurel streets in Baton Rouge, was modeled on a prison in Wethersfield, Connecticut. In 1844 the state leased operation of the prison and its prisoners to McHatton Pratt and Company, a private company. During the American Civil War, Union soldiers occupied the prison in Baton Rouge. In 1869 during the Reconstruction era, Samuel Lawrence James, a former Confederate major, received the military lease to the future prison property along the Mississippi River. He tried to produce cotton with free labor of African Americans. He used profits from his slave trading firm, Franklin and Armfield, of Alexandria, Virginia and Natchez, Mississippi. The Angola plantation was named for the country in Africa from which many of its slaves had come. [13] It contained a building called the Old Slave Quarters. 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. Cash-poor men in the agricultural economy 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. [15][16] James died in 1894. The Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections says that this facility opened as a state prison in 1901. 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 received stab wounds. Wolfe and Lornell said that the staff, consisting of 90 people, ran the prison like it was a private fiefdom. The two authors said that prisoners were viewed as’niggers’ of the lowest order. In 1935, remains of a Native American individual were taken from Angola and were donated to the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science. In 1948, Governor Earl Kemp Long 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. Long appointed distant relatives as wardens of the prison. In the institution’s history, the electric chair, Gruesome Gertie, 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. 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’ tendons they were referred to as the Heel String Gang. This caused national news agencies to write exposé stories about conditions at Angola. [24] In its November 22, 1952 issue, Collier’s Magazine referred to Angola as the worst prison in America. [24][25] In addition, Margaret Dixon, managing editor of the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate for two decades, worked for prison reform, specifically, construction of other facilities in order 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 Mississippi River. 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, 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 in order 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. In 1971 the American Bar Association criticized the state of Angola. Linda Ashton of the Associated Press said that the bar association described Angola’s conditions as medieval, squalid and horrifying. [28] In 1972, Elayne Hunt, a reforming director of corrections, was appointed by Governor Edwin Edwards. Courts in Gates v. Collier 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. 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. [28] Maggio retired in 1984. In the 1980s Kirksey Nix 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. In 1993 Angola officers fatally shot 29-year-old escapee Tyrone Brown. 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. In 2004 Paul Harris of The Guardian said Unsurprisingly, Angola has always been famed for brutality, riots, escape and murder. On August 31, 2008, New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin stated in a press conference that anyone arrested for looting during the evacuation of the city due to Hurricane Gustav 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. Anybody who is caught looting in the city of New Orleans will go directly to Angola. You will not have a temporary stay in the city. You go directly to the big house, in general population. So, I want to make sure that every looter, potential looter, understands that. You will go directly to Angola Prison. And God bless you when you go there. In 2012, 1,000 prisoners were transferred to Angola from C. Paul Phelps Correctional Center, 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 convicted murderer 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 on death row. [39] 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. Louisiana Department of Corrections patch with Angola Tab. Prisoners raised food staples and cash crops. Long 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 inmates had more privileges than “extended lockdown inmates, including the privilege of watching television. “Extended lockdown” was originally intended as a temporary punishment. The next most restrictive level is “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. The sign indicating the Angola Ferry. Louisiana State Penitentiary is in unincorporated West Feliciana Parish, in east central Louisiana. [43] It is located at the base of the Tunica Hills, in a region described by Jenny Lee Rice of Paste as breathtakingly beautiful. The prison is about 22 miles (35 km) northwest of St. Francisville, [45] about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Baton Rouge, [18] and 135 miles (217 km) northwest of New Orleans. [46] Angola is about an hour’s drive from Baton Rouge, [47] and it is about a two-hour driving distance from New Orleans. [48] The Mississippi River borders the facility on three sides. [19] The prison is in proximity to the Louisiana-Mississippi border. [43] Angola is located about 34 miles (55 km) from the Dixon Correctional Institute. 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. “[19] The prison officials sometimes provide meals for official guests because of what the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections refers to as the “extreme remote location of Angola; the nearest non-prison dining facility is, as of 1999, 30 miles (48 km) away. [50] 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 Louisiana Highway 66, a road described by Wolfe and Lornell as a winding, often muddy state road. Francisville one would travel about 2 miles (3.2 km) north along U. Highway 61, turn left at Louisiana 66, and travel on that road for 20 miles (32 km) until it dead ends at Angola’s front gate. [52] The Angola Ferry provides a ferry service between Angola and a point in unincorporated Pointe Coupee Parish. The ferry is open only to employees except during special events, when members of the general public may use it. An aerial view of Louisiana State Penitentiary, January 10, 1998, U. The 18,000-acre (7,300 ha) prison property occupies a 28-square-mile (73 km2) area. [54] The size of the prison property is larger than the size of Manhattan. [55] 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 Mississippi River. The perimeter of the property is not fenced, while the individual prisoner dormitory and recreational camps are fenced. [44] Most of the prison buildings are yellow with a red trim. Lake Killarney, a geographic feature of Angola. The state of Louisiana considers Angola to be a multi-security institution. 29% of the prison’s beds are designated for maximum security inmates. [56] 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 [to] live this way encourages cooperation and healthy peer relationships. 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. 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. [57] 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. 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. [57] Camp C includes the Bear and Wolf dormitories and Jaguar and Tiger cellblocks. [59] 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. [57] Camp D houses the Eagle and Falcon dormitories and the Hawk and Raven cellblocks. [59] Camp J 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. [57] Camp J houses the Alligator, Barracuda, Gar, and Shark cellblocks. Camp F has four minimum custody dormitories and the “Dog Pen, ” which houses 11 minimum custody inmates. [57] All of the prisoners housed in Camp F are trustees who mop floors, deliver food to fellow prisoners, and perform other support tasks. [60] Camp F also houses Angola’s execution chamber. [61] Camp F has a lake where trustees fish. [60] 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. LeBlanc said that the prisoners in isolation would remain isolated. The Reception Center, the closest prison housing building to the main entrance, acts as reception center for arriving prisoners. It is located to the right of the main highway, inside the main gate. [47] In addition it contains the death row for male inmates in Louisiana, with 101 extended lockdown cells housing condemned inmates. [57] 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. 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. [65] The death row houses exercise areas with basketball posts. [66] The death row facility was constructed in 2006 and there is no air conditioning or cross ventilation. [67] 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 Baton Rouge, alleging that the death row facility does not have adequate measures to prevent overheating. [68] The prisoners said that due to pre-existing medical conditions, the heat may cause health problems. 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. [67] The following day, Warden Burl Cain apologized for violating the court order regarding data collection. [69] On Wednesday August 7, 2013 closing arguments in the trial ended. [70] In December 2013 U. 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. Tunica Elementary School previously served children living on the Angola property. The facility includes a group of houses, called the “B-Line, “[72] 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. 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. [75] Secondary schools serving the Angola grounds are West Feliciana Middle School and West Feliciana High School in Bains. [76] The West Feliciana Parish Library is located in St. [77] The library, previously a part of the Audubon Regional Library System, became independent in January 2004. Previously elementary school children attended Tunica Elementary School in Tunica, [79] located in proximity to Angola. [80] The school building, 4 miles (6.4 km) from Angola, [81] is several miles from Angola’s main entrance, and many of its students lived on the Angola grounds. [79] On May 18, 2011, due to budget cuts, the parish school board voted to close Tunica Elementary. The fire station houses the Angola Emergency Medical Services Department staff, who provide fire and emergency services to the prison. [57] 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 West Feliciana Parish and with Wilkinson County, Mississippi. Augustine Roman Catholic Church. The main entrance to Angola has an etched monument that refers to Epistle to the Philippians 3:15. 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 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. [72] The Camp C Chapel and the B-Line Chapel were both dedicated the same day. Its design resembles The Alamo in San Antonio, 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. 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. [85] Lake Killarney, an oxbow lake of the Mississippi River located on the prison grounds, has large crappie 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, a 6,000-yard (5,500 m), 9-hole, 72-par golf course, is located on the grounds of Angola. [52] Prison View, the only golf course on the property of an American prison, [87] is between the Tunica Hills and Camp J, at the intersection of B-Line Road and Camp J Road. [88] 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. [52] 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. The “Ranch House” is a facility for prison guests. [49] James Ridgeway of Mother Jones 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. “[90] 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 Burl Cain was selected as Warden. Cain had the building renovated to accommodate overnight guests. [49] Traditionally, prisoners who worked successfully as cooks in the Ranch House were later assigned to work as cooks at the Louisiana Governor’s Mansion. Point Lookout Cemetery, established after 1927; one of the prison cemeteries on the Angola property. Point Lookout Cemetery is the prison cemetery, located on the north side of the Angola property, at the base of the Tunica Hills. [57] Deceased prisoners from all state prisons had been buried here who were not claimed and transported elsewhere by family members. [91] 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 100 yards (91 m) to the 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. The Angola Museum, operated by the nonprofit Louisiana State Penitentiary Museum Foundation, is the on-site prison museum. Visitors are charged no admission, but may make a donation if they wish. [92] The museum is located outside the prison’s main gate, [85] in a former bank building. The prison includes the Angola Airstrip (FAA LID: LA67). [94] 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 times. The guard house at the Angola Main Entrance. The facility’s main entrance has a metal-roofed guard house for review of traffic to and from the prison. Varnado and Daniel P. Smith of Victims of Dead Man Walking said that the guard house looks like a large carport over the road. [47] 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. [57] The United States Postal Service operates the Angola Post Office on the prison grounds. [96] It was established on October 2, 1887. Knapps Correctional Officer Training Academy, [12] the state training center for correctional officers, is located at the northwest corner of Angola, [18] in front of Camp F. [59] Near the training center, Angola prisoners maintain the only nature preserve located on the grounds of a penal institution. Treatment Center is located on the Angola premises. Dixon K-9 Training Center is the dog-training area. [98] 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. [100] The prison also houses an all-purpose arena. Camp H, a prisoner housing facility that is no longer in service. 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 control, as the springtime high water posed a threat to Angola. The Mississippi River was nearly 1 mile (1.6 km) 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, while holding xxx prisoners. In the 1980s the main road to Angola had not been paved. [102] 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, 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. Main article: Red Hat Cell Block. The most restrictive inmate housing unit was colloquially referred to as “Red Hat Cell Block, “[104] after the red paint-coated straw hats that its occupants wore when they worked in the fields. [42] “Red Hat, ” a one-story, 30-cell building at Camp E, was built in 1933. [105] Brooke Shelby Biggs of Mother Jones 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. Murray Henderson phased out solitary confinement at Red Hat. “[106] 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. [42] On February 20, 2003, the National Park Service listed the Red Hat Cell Block on the National Register of Historic Places as #03000041. Louisiana State Penitentiary is the largest correctional facility in the United States by population. [107] In 2010 the prison had 5,100 inmates and 1,700 employees. [108] 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. [109] As of 2016 many inmates come from the state of Mississippi. As of 2011 the prison has about 1,600 employees, making it one of the largest employers in the State of Louisiana. [111] Over 600 “free people” live on prison property. These residents are Angola’s emergency response personnel and their dependents. [85] 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 National Public Radio said In a place so remote, it’s hard to know what’s nepotism. There’s simply no one else to hire. Burl Cain, warden of Angola from 1995 to 2016. [111] 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. “[113] In 2009 James Ridgeway of Mother Jones said Angola was “An 18,000-acre complex that still resembles the slave plantation it once was. Angola has the largest number of inmates on life sentences 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. [115] 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 The New York Times 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. [116] Around 2000, the officers were among the lowest-paid in the United States. Like the prisoners they supervised, few had graduated from high school. [25] 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 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. [14] Films such as Dead Man Walking, [119] Monster’s Ball, [120] and I Love You Phillip Morris 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. The prison hosts a rodeo every April and October. Inmates produce the newsmagazine The Angolite, 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, “Gruesome Gertie”, last used for the execution of Andrew Lee Jones on 22 July 1991. [citation needed] Angola Prison hosts the country’s only inmate-operated radio station, KLSP. A topographical map, 1994, U. Inmates cultivate, harvest and process an array of crops that make the facility self-supporting. Crops include cabbage, corn, cotton, strawberry, okra, onions, peppers, soybeans, squash, tomatoes, and wheat. As of 2010 the prison has 2,000 head of cattle. Each year, the prison produces four million pounds of vegetable crops. Inmates also breed and train the horses used at Angola for field work. Trustys are mounted to supervise workers in the fields. In 2010, the Angola Prison Horse Sale was initiated at the time of the annual rodeos. Angola offers literacy classes for prisoners with no high school diploma and no General Equivalency Diploma (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. Prisoners with satisfactory TABE scores may be admitted to vocational classes. Such classes include automotive technology, carpentry, culinary arts, graphic communications, horticulture, and welding. [124] In the 1990s, Angola partnered with the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary to offer prisoners the chance to earn accredited bachelor’s degrees in Ministry. Sabin wrote his doctoral dissertation evaluating the moral development among those college students. In 1994 the United States Congress voted to eliminate prisoner eligibility for Pell Grants, making religious programs such as the New Orleans Baptist program the only ones in higher education available to prisoners. [64] 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. 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. Main article: The Angolite. Wilbert Rideau was an editor of The Angolite, 1975 to 2002. The Angolite is the inmate-published and -edited magazine of the institution, which began in 1975 or 1976. [127] Each year, six issues are published. [85] 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 and Billy Sinclair, [128] who became co-editors in 1978. [129] 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. Angola is the only penitentiary in the U. 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”[130] 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. [130] The station has 20 hours of daily airtime, and all of the music aired by the station is donated. [83] 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. [107] The non-emergency uses of the station began in 1987 when Jimmy Swaggart, an evangelist, gave the prison old equipment from his radio network. [131] 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. In 2001 Christian music artist, Larry Howard of Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship visited the prison. He encouraged the Radio Training Network to visit Angola. Warden Burl Cain used the funds to update the radio equipment and train prisoner DJs in using the new electronic systems. [44] The new radio equipment allowed KLSP to broadcast in stereo, expand its daily airtime to 20 hours, and to upgrade its programming. [83] As of 2012, KLSP had an output of 105 watts. [133] Further than 7 miles (11 km) away from Angola on Louisiana Highway 61, the signal begins to fade. At 10 miles (16 km) listeners can hear only white noise. Paul von Zielbauer of The New York Times said that Still, 100 watts does not push the station’s signal far beyond the prison gate. [83] All 24 hours are devoted to religious programming. [85] After religion became the primary focus, some inmates stopped listening to the station. The prison officials have started LSP-TV, a television station. According to Kalen Mary Ann Churcher of Pennsylvania State University, the television station follows the religious programming emphasis of the radio station more closely than it emulates reporting of The Angolite. [132] But its prisoner staff and technicicans also films prisoner events, such as the Angola Prison Rodeo, prize fights, and football games. As it has a closed circuit system, it allows even inmates on death row to watch the broadcasts. 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. In 1972, in the US Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia, 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[66] 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. [136] 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” under the 8th Amendment to the US Constitution. Each of the men had been held in solitary for more than 25 years. [137] The lawsuit describes basic conditions on death row:[138]. Sparse cells, hot in summer, with little natural light. Male death row inmates are moved from the Reception Center to a cell near the execution chamber 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. 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 [i]t 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 or she was called “Sam Jones, after Sam H. Jones, the Governor of Louisiana in power when electrocution was introduced as the capital punishment. As of 2011 several Angola inmates practiced musical skills. The prison administration encourages prisoners to practice music and uses music as a reward for inmates who behave. In the 1930s John Lomax, a folklorist, and Alan Lomax, his son, traveled throughout the U. South to document African-American musical culture. 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 that originated during the slavery era. The Lomaxes met Lead Belly, a famous musician, in Angola. A 2010 memoir by Wilbert Rideau, an inmate at Angola from 1961 through 2000, states that “slavery was commonplace in Angola with perhaps a quarter of the population in bondage” throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. Rideau said that The slave’s only way out was to commit suicide, escape or kill his master. [141] Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox, members of the Angola 3, arrived at Angola in the late 1960s. They became active members of the prison’s chapter of the Black Panther Party, where they organized petitions and hunger strikes to protest conditions at the prison and helped new inmates protect themselves from rape and enslavement. 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. Angola has several inmate organizations. They include the 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. Main article: Angola Prison 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. [85] Initiated with planning in 1964, [116] the rodeo held its first events in 1965. [144] 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. [144] As part of the prison rodeo, [145] the prison holds a semiannual Arts and Crafts Festival. [146] In 2010 it started the Angola Prison Horse Sale, also at the time of the rodeo. 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-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. [147] It is based on Malachi 4:6, He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers… Death row and non-death row. Elmo Patrick Sonnier[150]. Angola 3 (Robert Hillary King, Herman Wallace, and Albert Woodfox)[113]. Jack Favor, rodeo performer and manager framed for two murders in 1964 in Bossier Parish; 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[151]. Patrick O’Neal Kennedy defendant in Kennedy v. Huddie William Ledbetter (Lead Belly) – Camp A, [19] folk and blues musician. Carlos Marcello, organized crime figure. Marlowe Parker (artist)[155]. Eddie James Sonnier (brother and accomplice of Elmo Sonnier)[156]. Robert Pete Williams[157]. Freddy Fender, Tejano country and rock-and-roll musician. Will Hayden, reality TV host and gunsmith. Clementine Barnabet, early 20th century voodoo priestess and axe murderer. Billy Cannon (Dentist)[159]. James Monroe Smith (Director of Vocational Rehabilitation)[160]. One Man Gang (wrestler) George Gray worked on Death Row until his recent retirement. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Photographic Images\Photographs”. The seller is “memorabilia111″ and is located in this country: US. This item can be shipped to United States, Canada, United Kingdom, China, Mexico, Germany, Japan, France, Australia, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Sweden, Korea, South, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Africa, Thailand, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Austria, Bahamas, Israel, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Croatia, Republic of, Malaysia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos Islands, Barbados, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Brunei Darussalam, Bolivia, Egypt, French Guiana, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Iceland, Jersey, Jordan, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Liechtenstein, Sri Lanka, Luxembourg, Monaco, Macau, Martinique, Maldives, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Reunion, Uruguay.

• Features: Press Photograph
• Time Period Manufactured: 1925-1949
• Subject: CRIMINALS
• Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
• Material: Paper
• Year of Production: 1933
• Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
• Image Color: Black & White
• Type: Photograph