Angola Prison: Open Or Closed?

Angola Prison, officially known as the Louisiana State Penitentiary, is a maximum-security prison farm in Louisiana, USA. It is the largest maximum-security prison in the country, with 6,300 prisoners and 1,800 staff. The prison is located on the site of a former slave plantation and is nicknamed the Alcatraz of the South. In 2023, Angola Prison was the subject of controversy when it was revealed that incarcerated youths were being held in unsafe conditions and suffering inhumane punishments. As a result, a federal judge ordered the prison to relocate all youths to a different facility.

Angola Prison is the largest maximum-security prison in the US, with 6,300 prisoners and 1,800 staff

Angola Prison, officially known as the Louisiana State Penitentiary, is the largest maximum-security prison in the United States. Located in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, the prison is situated on the east side of a bend in the Mississippi River, flanked by water on three sides. With 6,300 prisoners and 1,800 staff, including corrections officers, janitors, maintenance workers, and wardens, Angola Prison has earned the nickname "a gated community".

The prison sits on 28 square miles (73 square kilometres) of land with a rich but troubled history. Before the American Civil War, the area was known as the Angola Plantations, a slave plantation owned by slave trader Isaac Franklin. After the Civil War, the land was purchased and developed into the Angola Penitentiary. The prison opened in 1901, and its history has been marked by violence, escapes, and notable inmates and wardens.

Today, Angola Prison is known for its self-sufficiency, with various manufacturing facilities and agricultural operations. It offers educational and vocational programs to prisoners and has a staff of 1,800, making it one of the largest employers in Louisiana. The prison has a complex history and continues to be a significant part of the US correctional system.

The prison is located on the site of a former slave plantation, and was nicknamed the Alcatraz of the South

The Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola and nicknamed the "Alcatraz of the South", is a maximum-security prison in Louisiana. The prison is located on the site of a former slave plantation called the Angola Plantations, which was owned by slave trader Isaac Franklin. The plantation was named after the country of Angola, from which many enslaved people originated before arriving in Louisiana.

The Angola Plantations occupied 28 square miles (73 square kilometres) of land before the American Civil War. The land was purchased in the 1830s by Franklin, a planter and slave trader who co-owned the profitable slave-trading firm Franklin and Armfield. After his death in 1846, his widow, Adelicia Cheatham, sold the plantation in 1880 to Samuel Lawrence James, a former Confederate major.

Under James, the land was used as a convict-leasing site, with convicts leased from the state and used as workers on his vast plantation. James was responsible for their room and board and had total authority over them. During this period, convicts were frequently abused, underfed, and subjected to unregulated violence.

The Louisiana State Penitentiary opened as a state prison in 1901, with the state beginning to transfer prison facilities to the Angola site. The prison is located at the end of Louisiana Highway 66, about 22 miles northwest of St. Francisville. It is the largest maximum-security prison in the United States, with 6,300 prisoners and 1,800 staff. The prison is set between oxbow lakes on the east side of a bend in the Mississippi River and is flanked on three sides by water.

Angola has been the subject of criticism and scrutiny over the years due to its harsh conditions and history of violence. Efforts to reform and improve conditions have been ongoing, with the prison accredited by the American Correctional Association in the 1990s.

Angola is self-sufficient, with a canning factory, dairy, mail system, and more

Angola Prison, officially known as the Louisiana State Penitentiary, is a self-sufficient community. Due to its remote location, Angola was designed to be as self-sufficient as possible, functioning as a miniature community with a variety of facilities and services.

One of the key features of Angola's self-sufficiency is its canning factory. The prison has a long history of agricultural production, with inmates cultivating various crops such as cabbage, corn, cotton, strawberries, okra, onions, peppers, soybeans, squash, tomatoes, and wheat. The canning factory plays a crucial role in preserving and processing these crops, ensuring a stable food supply for the prison population and, at times, donating surplus produce to those in need outside the prison.

In addition to the canning factory, Angola also has its own dairy. The dairy provides milk and dairy products for the prison community, contributing to the nutritional needs of both the inmates and staff.

Another aspect of Angola's self-sufficiency is its mail system. The prison has its own ZIP code and a United States Postal Service post office located within the grounds. This allows for the efficient delivery and receipt of mail, enabling inmates to stay connected with their families and the outside world.

Furthermore, Angola has a small ranch, repair shops, and a sugar mill. The ranch provides meat and other animal products, while the repair shops maintain and fix equipment and machinery. The sugar mill processes sugarcane grown by inmates, producing sugar that can be used in the prison or sold externally.

The self-sufficiency of Angola was intentionally designed to reduce costs for taxpayers and enhance the public image of politicians, such as Governor Huey P. Long. By having inmates work in these various facilities and produce their own food, the prison could operate with less external dependence.

Prisoners are paid between 2 cents and 40 cents an hour for their labour

Prisoners at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola, are paid between 2 cents and 40 cents an hour for their labour. This rate is set by state statute.

Angola is the country's largest maximum-security prison, with 6,300 prisoners and 1,800 staff. It is located on a former slave plantation, and prisoners work on the same plantation soil where slaves harvested cotton, tobacco and sugarcane more than 150 years ago.

Prisoners typically head to the fields within days of their arrival, and initially work for free. They can then earn between 2 cents and 40 cents an hour. However, anyone who refuses to work, doesn't produce enough, or steps outside the long straight rows is punished. Calvin Thomas, who spent more than 17 years at Angola, said:

> "If he shoots the gun in the air because you done passed that line, that means you’re going to get locked up and you’re going to have to pay for that bullet that he shot...They beat you, handcuff you and beat you again."

Louisiana corrections spokesman Ken Pastorick called this description "absurd", saying that the phrase "sentenced with hard labour" is a legal term referring to a prisoner with a felony conviction. He also noted that the department has transformed Angola from "the bloodiest prison in America" through rehabilitation, vocational and educational programs.

Prisoners have filed class-action lawsuits in recent months, saying they have been forced to provide cheap or free labour to the state and outside companies, which they described as slavery.

The prison has been the subject of several songs, and was featured in the documentary The Farm: Angola, USA

Angola Prison, officially the Louisiana State Penitentiary, has been the subject of several songs and documentaries. In the 1950s, LSU English professor Dr. Harry Oster recorded a series of music performances by African American prisoners at the facility. The performances, many by prisoners serving life sentences, are full of despair and raw emotion.

The prison and its inmates were also featured in the documentary Music from the Big House, which explores the blues music tradition performed by the inmates. The film features four bands made up of inmates, with singer Rita Chiarelli guiding and performing with them. Chiarelli seeks to go back to the roots of the blues in Angola Prison, where the music is performed within the stone walls.

The Farm: Angola, USA is another documentary set in the prison. It follows the lives of seven inmates, including Wilbert Rideau, who tell their stories of life, death, and survival within the prison walls. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and won several other awards, including the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize.

The music and musicians of Angola Prison were also explored in a day-long symposium, 'Angola Bound Revisited: Prison Music of Louisiana', which included performances by inmate bands and discussions with former inmate musicians, such as Charles Neville.

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