Angola – A Model Prison?

The Louisiana State Penitentiary, commonly referred to as Angola has come under scrutiny recently for a lawsuit stemming from complaints by inmates of extreme heat and poor conditions. However, an article highlighted on TheAdvocate.com this morning paints an entirely different picture of the maligned prison.

Award winning prison journalist and former Angola inmate Wilbert Rideau recently wrote an essay for the New York Times on the subject of reducing tensions and violence in America's prisons. Rideau praised Angola as a model system because of the open line of communication between inmates and a prison staff,

“because making responsible inmates partners in managing prison problems has worked extremely well in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, where the wardens and sub-wardens have, for decades, regularly met with inmate leaders to discuss problems. It has gone from being one of the bloodiest to one of the safest maximum security prisons in America.” - Wilbert Rideau

Wilbert Rideau served time in Angola for killing a Calcasieu Parish bank teller.

[Via The Advocate]