Guts and Glory.

October 7, 2002 1:12 PM

Guts and Glory. While the rest of south Louisiana recovered from hurricane Lili, we decided to check out a Louisiana tradition. Angola is the nation's largest maximum security prison, it has held many men, including famous, controversial, and their death row boasts a pro wrassler as a guard. The Angola Prison Rodeo is held every Sunday in October. Convict Poker says it all. Check out their newspaper, museum, music and films.
posted by puddsharp (15 comments total)

Sorry about the 2nd link.
posted by puddsharp at 1:15 PM on October 7, 2002

I went to this several times when I was a kid. I was with my cub scout troop. It was the most brutal thing I've ever seen. Angola is a horrible, horrible place with a long history of corruption and carnage. I never felt at ease when we'd go out there.

A man's back was broken right in front of us when a horse tipped over on him. Maybe he died, I don't know.
posted by ColdChef at 1:23 PM on October 7, 2002

Excellent post, puddsharp.
posted by rocketman at 1:24 PM on October 7, 2002

Great Angola stuff in Bragg's book

One of my favorite passages: "I go to sleep and I dream about Angola. I guess I'll dream about it till the day I die."
-- Hayes Williams, who served 30 years at the Louisiana State Penitentary at Angola for a murder he did not commit.
posted by matteo at 1:29 PM on October 7, 2002

Also an extraordinary read is "Life Sentences: Rage and Survival Behind Bars" by Wilbert Rideau, Ron Wikberg. It's a collection of essays from the Angolite - the uncensored Angola prison newspaper.
posted by fluffy1984 at 2:00 PM on October 7, 2002

Great stuff, puddsharp. (My instant association with Angola is "Junco Partner.")
posted by languagehat at 2:19 PM on October 7, 2002

Participation in this event is... voluntary... right?

...right?
posted by cadastral at 2:20 PM on October 7, 2002

great post. thank you.
posted by fishfucker at 2:24 PM on October 7, 2002

Thanks for the links. If we had a "recommend this post" button, I'd click it.
posted by timeistight at 2:30 PM on October 7, 2002

Just like in real life, I headed straight for the museum, and then the gift shop. Christmas gifts ahoy!
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 3:00 PM on October 7, 2002

also: i've spent most of the day at the bootsnall.com site that was linked. really good travel reading.
posted by fishfucker at 4:52 PM on October 7, 2002

Burl Cain,
Warden
posted by stbalbach at 6:05 PM on October 7, 2002

Great post puddsharp. Apparently the institution has more than one famous musical alum - Charles Neville also spent some time there and has returned to play with the Angola Prison Band.
posted by madamjujujive at 6:42 PM on October 7, 2002

Angola is a bad, bad place.
posted by rushmc at 8:11 PM on October 7, 2002

Thanks for all the nice posts. Anyone who wants to go this sunday should book a ticket into Baton Rouge. From there it's about 50 miles to Angola. Here's a great place to stay that is about 25 miles outside of the prison.

Participation in this event is... voluntary... right?

...right?

Oh course it is cadastral.

I didn't mention the the prisoner's arts & crafts sale- lots of leather, woodwork and painting. I bought a board game ($20) called "Serving time on the River" from an inmate named Roscoe Jones, Jr. who makes them all by hand and colors the boads with crayons. It's a harsh look at what it's like to be on the inside with little hope of getting out.
posted by puddsharp at 7:37 AM on October 8, 2002