This week while driving my truck I delivered a load to Angola Prison in Louisiana.
I knew some of the history of this prison. Angola was named after the slaves who
had worked these fields back before the Civil War.
As I drove through the front gate, I felt like I was venturing back to the days
of slavery. Prisoners marching in military formation with their farm
tools over their shoulders like soldiers carry their weapons. Rednecks on
horseback oversee the operation. It made me sick to my stomach.
Some of the prisoners I spoke with told me they committed the crimes they were
convicted of…and deserved to be in Angola. But several Prisoners looked
me right in the eye and told me they did not commit the crime they were sent to
Angola for. And, I believed them. Much is wrong with our Judicial
System. Prosecutors con young men into admitting guilt to crimes they did
not commit with false promises they’ll speak with the Judge and get them a
lesser sentence. Police Officers do the
same thing…and call it “good police work.”
One Prisoner had been there almost 30 years, for a rape he claims he did
not do. I asked him how long he was
supposed to be in Angola, and he said “for life.” In Louisiana, life means…for the rest of your
life. Not 20 years and then paroled and
given a second chance.
My heart went out to this guy, and I know in my heart he did
not commit the crime he was in Angola for.
These men impressed me with the fact they had not given up. And each one of these guys believed in
God. One Prisoner said, “We don’t even
leave when we die, the cemetery is right over there.” Then this same man said, “I may never walk out
the front gate of Angola, but I’ll walk through the gates of Heaven with Jesus.”
My guess is, about 40% of the men in Angola did not commit
the crime they were sent there for.
Polite and respectful, these calm and gentle men who live in “A Gated
Community.” Where did I get that
from? The Gift Shop outside the front
gate has many items for sale that say, “Angola, a gated community.” What a slap in the face to all mankind, to
make a joke of taking the freedoms from human beings.
I will never forget the people I met at Angola, and will forever have a different opinion of Prisoners. Everyone should visit this Prison. Each year they put on a rodeo at Angola and the Warden Burl Cain thinks up the most dangerous events for the inmates to participate in. Like Rodeo Poker, where Prisoners sit at a poker table and see who will sit there the longest while a bull rips them to pieces.
And at a time when President Obama is so concerned with those
terrorists in Gitmo, who live in posh air conditioned cells; this President
does not seem concerned with Americans who are being treated like slaves in the
Plantation Prison in Angola Louisiana.
The only thing Obama seems to care about is giving more
money to the richest failures in America.
The Bankers, Mortgage Lenders and Wall Street CEO’s
