A trip to Angola

I took a school bus field trip with my daughter’s eighth-graders from Branch Elementary to Angola State Prison Friday. There were 31 total, both boys and girls, plus 4 adult chaperones on a 2 1/2- hour trip.
My first visit to the state prison was interesting, educational and a unique experience.
I discovered many aspects about the prison that I was not aware of. I also took on a different perspective of trustees and their duties.
One particular trustee talked to our group about what prison life entails. A trustee is an inmate who has earned certain privileges and one in particular is a job on the grounds. This particular trustee was incarcerated at 19 for murder and armed robbery. He is now 52, and serving a life sentence. And by the way his total work wage is $8 for 5 days.
The history behind Angola State Prison is fascinating. According to La. State Penitentiary Museum Foundation information, in 1880, Major James purchased an 8,000-acre plantation in West Feliciana Parish called Angola (believed to be named after the area in Africa where former slaves came from). He began housing some offenders at what used to be the Tenant Farmer Quarters, which later became Camp A. Primarily, offenders worked on levee construction on the Mississippi River outside either Angola or the penitentiary in Baton Rouge.
The present Angola includes 18,000 acres which includes a small infirmary, a radio station, Red Hat Cellblock, the original electrocution chair, lethal injection room, rodeo arena, horse farm, museum, a small chapel, and much more.
Angola is surrounded by a wildlife preserve and the Mississippi River levee.
I was amazed by the size of the prison and its grounds. And I also discovered as part of the thousands of acres, there is the town of Angola, where mostly prison employees live. This small community has its own post office and zip code.
With our time limit, we did not nearly tour all of the grounds. We did tour the radio station, the horse farm, the lethal injection room, rodeo arena, cafeteria, where we ate lunch, and a museum.
We learned that prisoners work everyday from sunrise to sunset on the thousands of acres of crops. They hand-pick vegetables, wash and clean, and process them for their many meals and for other prisons. Crops include: squash, sugar cane, carrots, cabbage, collards, potatoes, and much more.
According to our tour-guide, a disciplinary classification employee (his name escapes me), there are over 6,000 inmates with most serving life-term sentences.
We toured the museum lastly which show-cases the prisoners and trustees work--some wood works, tools, paintings, a wooden coffin built for a past prisoner, and more.
We were not allowed to wear jeans - the attire of prisoners - or to have any kind of electronic device. They held our cell phones during the tour.
One of the highlights of our trip (probably according to the students) our school bus broke down. Thankfully not alongside the interstate, but on the grounds of Angola. No worries, 10 to 15 minutes later, we were rolling...a dead battery. However, I felt a tap on my shoulder from a student asking and worrying that she may have to spend the night in prison! Her expression was priceless!
Did you Know?
* That Angola has the highest percentage of prisoners serving life sentences than any other prison in the United States?
* That Angola offender craftsmen build the caskets used for offender burials?
* That Angola has a wheelchair restoration program that ships hundreds of wheelchairs to Third World countries?
* That Angola is called the Alcatraz of the South because it is bordered by a natural perimeter?
* That Angola is the only prison with its own zip code? It is 70712.
* That Angola makes its own hot sauce called “Guts & Glory” and that it is sold at the Museum?
* That the Red Hat Cellblock, Angola’s first cellblock, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places?
* That Angola, nicknamed The Farm produces enough fresh vegetables to feed over 11,000 offenders housed in five state prisons year round?
* That the world famous Angola Prison Rodeo is the longest continuously running prison rodeos in America?
* That Angola has an offender organization that produces toys and refurbishes bicycles for underprivileged children?
* That Angola has a licensed, award winning, hospice program with professionally trained offender volunteer caregivers?

Accent Editor Myra Miller can be reached at myra.miller@eunicetoday.com