Louisiana State Penitentiary (“Angola”)

By Megan Charbonier

General Context

The Louisiana State Penitentiary is also known as Angola because of its origins as a plantation by the same name. Angola’s history is a long, dark one that involves being labeled “the bloodiest prison in the South.”

Now, the prison sits on 18,000 acres and dangerous conditions continue to surround it and its inmates of which 74% are Black. The most common job (where prisoners start and have difficulty advancing from) involves laboring in the fields working with crops such as cotton, corn, soybeans, and sugarcane under the supervision of armed correctional officers on horseback. These workers get paid a mere $0.02 per hour. Conditions in the Louisiana heat are so harsh that there have been reports of workers collapsing from exhaustion or dehydration.

One controversial event that has become synonymous with the prison is the “Angola Prison Rodeo”, which is an event that occurs every weekend in the month of October. Some view this event as exploitive while others view it as reformative.

Connection to Novel

Angola, sometimes referred to simply as “the pen,” is one of the ever-present threats lurking in the background of the novel. Throughout most of the novel, Marcus is awaiting his trial that will determine if he will be imprisoned at Angola or not.

Early in the story, Miss Julie Rand makes a bold claim that Angola can kill a man (11). When Marcus is thinking of running away before his trial, the threat of being thrown in Angola for the rest of his life keeps him in place until after the trial (117). Jim makes another bold statement when he claims that Angola is harder than slavery (225).

Furthermore, and although it does not directly mention the novel, the L.A. Times published a poem that directly links Ernest Gaines and Angola.