A3N: How much do you think things have changed since Angola was infamously labeled "the bloodiest prison in America?
NAH: The tours are apparently part of Warden Burl Cain's efforts to make Angola seem more humane, safe and open, in an effort to undo the image of Angola as "the bloodiest prison in America." On the surface, I suppose what visitors see on the tour could reinforce that notion because there is regular interaction with inmate trustees, trips into inmate "dormitories" and never any sense of danger or risk. Of course, there is a great emphasis on the role of religion. For example, there is the new Graham Foundation Chapel, KLSP Incarceration Station that plays mostly gospel and the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary program. All of this emphasizes conservative evangelical Christianity over other faith traditions. Religion is clearly seen and used at Angola as a source of social control. Warden Cain has said that "the only true rehabilitation is moral."
But many questions remain about what is unseen or unspoken unless you directly ask. Inmates still try to escape and as many as 1200 inmates--about 20% of the total population of over 5100--are in administrative segregation/lock-down at the notorious CampJ. These inmates are granted their one hour of "exercise" in an incredibly small dog kennel-like cage and are forced to remain handcuffed during their brief time out (this is apparently the response to inmates "flashing" female guards in the tower). An array of deadly weapons is still confiscated weekly, and there is reportedly on-going use of dogs and other force to control the population. Sexual assault is also reportedly still an issue and the obituary column in The Angolite often refers to deaths of relatively young inmates in CampJ without noting cause of death, as it does in other obituaries.
If allowed to, inmates also offer a critique of The World Famous Angola Rodeo, where inmates participate for cash prizes at great risk. There have been several inmate deaths at the rodeo as well as extreme injuries and on-going chronic conditions. Inmates are allowed to sell crafts at the rodeo but the Warden/prison takes a 20% cut. The rodeo makes approximately $1 million each weekend in October as the new arena (built by inmates in short order under Cain's directive) seats 10,000. This is just one of several money-making endeavors at Angola that depends on neo-slave inmate labor starting at 2 cents per hour--the minimum wage had been raised to 4 cents per hour but was recently returned to 2 cents, according to the tour guide. The highest available wage for a few rare jobs is 20 cents per hour.
Despite the supposedly benign tour, both students and I were horrified. There is a cavalier attitude, a blasà ©' acceptance of capital punishment, mass incarceration and of course little critique of the class and race dynamics of the inmate population--80% of whom are black and nearly all of whom were poor, under-educated and dependent on a public defender at trial. There is passive acceptance and even sometimes celebration of Louisiana's harsh sentences--it has the highest incarceration rate in the US--and of the fact that 90% of the inmates will die there and 80% will receive no visitors after 5 years.
Angola is reminiscent of Toni Morrison's description of the plantation "Sweet Home" in her novel Beloved--a physically beautiful and natural space that is the site of great hidden suffering and degradation. It is a place where men are made to be docile "yes sir" and "yes ma'm" boys--where only the compliant and subservient are slightly rewarded, but are still disappeared, invisible and inconsequential to those inside and outside the gates. Yes, you can survive and maybe work a tolerable job there after decades of submission--but at what cost? And, what of the rest who resist?
Those who want to learn more should watch the films --The Farm and The Farm: 10 Years Down. A word of caution though: while much is revealed, they do, in my estimation, especially in the second film, over-estimate an inmate's chances of leaving Angola and "success" of the moralistic program imposed by Warden Cain. The stories of George Crawford and Vincent Simmons are much more typical than those of Ashanti Witherspoon and Bishop Tannehill.
A3N: Many people call Angola Prison a "modern day slave plantation." Do you think this is a fair label?
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