Angola Prison: Children Behind Bars

The Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola Prison, is the largest maximum-security prison in the United States. In 2023, a federal judge ordered the state of Louisiana to remove children from Angola Prison, where they had been subjected to solitary confinement, excessive force, and deprived of their right to education and family visits. The ruling followed a year of advocacy and public outrage, with rights groups denouncing the transfer of children to the prison. Since October 2022, 70-80 children, almost all Black boys, had been housed in the former death row of Angola, where they endured abusive conditions.

Children were subjected to solitary confinement for days or weeks at a time

The Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola Prison, has been the centre of controversy since 2022, when the state began transferring children to the former death row building of the maximum-security prison. Since October of that year, between 70 and 80 children, almost all Black boys, have been subjected to solitary confinement for days or weeks at a time.

Upon arrival, children are placed in solitary confinement for 72 consecutive hours, only being released from their cells for a few minutes to shower. They are also locked in their cells for over 23 hours as punishment and are handcuffed and shackled when they are allowed outside for recreation.

The cells are described as unbearably hot, with no windows or air conditioning, and the heat index in Angola has been over 88 degrees Fahrenheit every day since 21 May. This poses a serious health risk to the children, according to an expert on the effects of heat.

In addition to solitary confinement, children in Angola have reported being deprived of their right to an education, including a lack of accommodations for children with disabilities. They have also reported limited visits with family and loved ones and the use of mace or pepper spray by guards.

The state's treatment of the children has been widely condemned by youth justice advocates and legal groups, who have filed lawsuits and sought emergency action to remove the children from Angola Prison. In September 2023, a federal judge ordered the state of Louisiana to move the children out of the prison, citing the inhumane conditions and cruel and unusual punishment.

They were deprived of their right to an education and rehabilitative services

The Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola, is the largest maximum-security prison in the United States. In 2022, the state of Louisiana moved 70-80 children, almost all Black boys, to the former death row of Angola. The children were held in abusive conditions, including solitary confinement, excessive force, and the routine use of handcuffs, restraints, and chemical agents.

The children were deprived of their right to an education and rehabilitative services. The state failed to provide appropriate education and special education, where necessary. This was a breach of the state's promises made during a court hearing in September 2022, where it was stated that the site would be closed by spring 2023 and would meet legal requirements.

The children were also denied access to necessary and appropriate mental health treatment or appropriate social services. This was despite the fact that the Angola Prison Seminary, a faith-based prototype program for mental healthcare and inmate rehabilitation, is in operation at the prison. The program helps inmates find value and purpose through faith and trains them to offer counseling and support to other inmates.

The state's treatment of the children was deemed to constitute cruel and unusual punishment, and the punitive atmosphere and systemic programming failures were found to violate the 14th Amendment and federal law protecting children with disabilities. As a result, in September 2023, a federal judge ordered the state of Louisiana to remove the children from Angola.

They were routinely punished with the use of handcuffs, mace and chemical agents

The Angola Prison, officially known as the Louisiana State Penitentiary, is a maximum-security prison in Louisiana, USA. In 2022, the state of Louisiana moved 70-80 children, almost all Black boys, to the former death row of Angola Prison. The children were subjected to inhumane conditions, including solitary confinement, excessive force, and the routine use of handcuffs, restraints, and chemical agents.

The use of handcuffs, mace, and chemical agents was a common form of punishment for the children incarcerated at Angola Prison. One teen was maced in his cell, and during a visit to the prison, a judge witnessed juveniles eating meals or playing cards while handcuffed. The use of handcuffs was also employed to deny family visits, with children being punished through the denial of visits from their family members.

The handcuffs were just one tool in a range of punitive measures used against the children. Mace was also used as a punishment, with the judge finding that the children were frequently subjected to its use. In addition to handcuffs and mace, chemical agents were also routinely used as a form of punishment. These chemical agents were likely used in conjunction with other restraints, as the children were frequently held in solitary confinement, locked up in cells for days at a time.

The use of handcuffs, mace, and chemical agents as punishment was part of a broader pattern of abusive conditions at Angola Prison. The children were deprived of their right to an education, with only one of three classrooms operational, and they were forced to spend half of their school day learning alone in their cells. They were also denied necessary and appropriate mental health treatment, with the judge describing the provision of these services as "anemic".

The routine use of handcuffs, mace, and chemical agents as punishment for the children at Angola Prison was a clear violation of their rights. The judge in the case found that the conditions of confinement, including the use of these punitive measures, constituted cruel and unusual punishment, violating the 14th Amendment and federal law protecting children with disabilities. This ruling sent a strong message that the use of such punitive measures against children in detention is unacceptable and illegal.

They were denied family visits

The Angola prison in Louisiana, US, has a long and ugly history. It was first a slave plantation, then a prison camp for Black men conscripted under the convict leasing system, and is now the largest maximum-security prison in the United States.

In 2022, the state of Louisiana decided to move children in juvenile justice custody to the former death row of Angola. This decision was met with outrage from the public and civil rights groups, who argued that Angola was entirely inappropriate as a site for captive children. Despite this, the first group of children, almost all Black boys, were moved to the prison in October 2022.

The children were routinely held in solitary confinement, punished with handcuffs, mace, and denial of family visits, and deprived of their right to an education, treatment, and other rehabilitative services. They were held in inhumane conditions, with failing air conditioning, leading to baking temperatures. One teen was even maced in his cell.

In August 2023, lawyers for the children and their families presented evidence of these abusive conditions during a seven-day hearing. On September 8, 2023, Chief Judge Shelly Dick ruled that the conditions of confinement at Angola constituted cruel and unusual punishment and that the state had broken every promise it had made during a previous court hearing in September 2022. She ordered that the children be removed from Angola by September 15, 2023.

The denial of family visits was just one aspect of the cruel and unusual punishment endured by the children at Angola Prison. The state's treatment of these children, who were deprived of their basic rights and held in inhumane conditions, was a dark chapter in the already ugly history of Angola.

They were held in inhumane conditions, including in an old building with failing air conditioning

The Angola prison in Louisiana has a long and troubled history. Once a slave plantation, it became a prison camp for Black men conscripted under the convict leasing system. It has since become the nation's largest maximum-security adult prison.

In 2022, the state of Louisiana moved children into Angola, placing them in the former death row of the prison. Up to 80 children, almost all Black boys, some as young as 15, were incarcerated in this maximum-security prison. They were subjected to inhumane conditions and treatment that violated their constitutional rights.

The children were held in an old building with failing air conditioning, leading to unbearably hot temperatures. This was particularly concerning given that Louisiana's governor declared a state of emergency due to extreme heat during this period. The children were also subjected to prolonged solitary confinement, sometimes for weeks at a time, and were routinely punished with the use of handcuffs, restraints, and chemical agents like mace. They were deprived of their right to an education, with only one of three classrooms operational, and inadequate mental health care services.

The conditions these children endured were a stark reminder of the prison's ugly history as a monument to slavery and white supremacy. Rights groups and legal counsel fought tirelessly to end this inhumane practice, and in September 2023, a federal judge ordered the state of Louisiana to remove the children from Angola, recognizing the cruel and unusual punishment they had endured.

Despite this victory, the state of Louisiana continues to fight to hold children in adult detention facilities, showcasing the ongoing struggle to protect the rights and well-being of incarcerated youth.

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