
Despite society's best wishes, there are incidents that occur everyday that lead individuals into the prison system. There are many heinous and monstrous crimes that are committed under many different circumstances  --  none of them excusable in neither the eyes of the law nor those of the number of people who are affected by these crimes each day. So many of these affected people push until the case is correctly closed and the perpetrator is no longer dangerous, if at all possible. Though prison inmates may be gone from sight and from the outer world, those individuals still continue to go on each day and live their lives within the prison gates, a fact that most people tend to overlook. According to statistics gathered by, 63.1 percent of the maximum security adults in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola either are serving life sentences or belong to the 27.6 percent of sentences lasting more than 20 years. Taking into account that the average sentence length is 53.9 years, it is easy to gather that the majority of the men who are sentenced to Angola are likely to never leave the gates again (Managing Angola's Long Term Inmates). Though this thought can be comforting to some, there is so much more that goes on beyond the gates of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola that many people do not care to learn about for a variety of reasons. The prisoners at Angola are given the chance to want to improve themselves in order to show that they are making an effort to repent for their wrongdoings that landed them in their particular situation. Many people have different opinions, however, on the way that the operators of Angola Prison allow their inmates to work. Although there are disagreements about how the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola treats their prisoners, the outcome of many inmates' lives within the walls are by far better than they would be if not given the opportunities that Angola gives to allow them to succeed. 

Operated by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, formerly known as "The Bloodiest Prison in the South" due to its now extremely lowered number of assaults among inmates, has fluctuated among owners, operators, rules, and regulations throughout its history; it has currently reached its best operation since its start over one hundred years ago in 1880, including being accredited from the American Correction Association, which allows the prison to be classified as operating as "an entity [that is] stable, safe, and constitutional" (Angola Prison). This is an important asset to a prison, for citizens on the outside of the prison walls fearing that they are not safe from those within would be simply chaotic. However, it is vital to address that the prison operates according to the US Constitution, treating every individual inmate with the rights it declares. 

Prisoners, according to the Constitution, do not receive full constitutional rights, but instead, receive limited constitutional rights upon which were thought and decided.  Though they have committed typically cruel crimes, inmates are still humans with lives that continue behind bars. However, the lives that many prisoners in Angola lead are different than those of inmates in other prisons around the nation. Angola prides itself, according to its website, on "[maintaining] an environment where high ethical standards are expected, and performance accountability is a critical element of [their] success" (Department of Public). The prison is operated in such a way that if inmates show good behavior over an allotted amount of time, they are rewarded with better activities and ways of living in general. On a tour I took of the Louisiana State Penitentiary in April 2015, I learned that trusted inmates are gradually given better living quarters, jobs, and privileges around the prison. They have access to "amenities" such as large bedrooms shared with many other inmates; one of many construction, radio, or hospice positions among many others; and are even able to watch television, make crafts to sell to the public, buy snacks from vending machines, or participate in the annual Angola Prison Rodeo. While on prison grounds, I was able to talk to many prisoners who seemed to be roaming free doing their jobs around the grounds  --  so many that I often did not realize that they were inmates until one of them said something to remind me. The prisoners, if willing to cooperate, can be given privileges that essentially imitate those of a free person, but are still constantly reminded, either by word, their thoughts, or their surroundings, that they are in prison, probably for the rest of their lives. 

Being given different opportunities around the prison to gain trustworthiness is a big part of the inmate life at Angola. There are several jobs around the prison where, if one shows improvement and promising behavior, they can be trusted with different tasks and tools in order to gain experience in different trades. There are positions in agriculture, construction, art, animal care, radio service, among others. Allowing prisoners to learn a trade, Angola believes, profits them into putting their effort into something beneficial, that can, in turn, change their attitude and behavior (Adams). In light of their new trade-work, many of the prisoners can show off their new talents in the annual Angola Prison Rodeo or in their bimonthly newspaper, The Angolite. These two positions are jobs for which the prison is most famous. Though The Angolite is an impressive form of metaphorically letting those on the outside of the gates inside, the entire magazine is written by inmates who want to get their words published (Angola Prison). Controversially, however, the Angola Prison Rodeo is a famous rodeo event put on entirely by prisoners. The inmates involved who have proved themselves trustworthy enough plan the entire event from start to finish and participate in all of the activities within the ring (Adams). Even though this event is loved by the thousands of people who travel to attend each year, there are clearly people who believe that this event is not safe for the guests who arrive and that it puts the prisoners on an inappropriate display. Even though people may believe the inmates do not need this kind of treatment or odd privilege, the inmates are the ones who truly allow the show to keep coming back. The prisoners who volunteer themselves for these positions or any of the other stations that might be deemed debatable are always the inmates who feel so strongly about the positions they are serving. The prisoners are typically in there for life, so allowing them to recognize that they have a purpose in life besides violence and crime is a main goal of the Louisiana State Penitentiary.

Recognizing that sentences to Angola are typically life sentences or tend to be completed when the inmate is at a very old age, there are generally a lot of unhealthy inmates and deaths of inmates (Waselchuk). When discussing whether or not prisons should contain hospice care systems to care for the sick and dying, Barbara Head, a research director for hospice care at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, pointed out that, "the judiciary has ruled that prisoners have the right to quality healthcare. Correctional healthcare is supposed to equal community standards of care." Remembering that inmates are also humans like us, she added, "because hospice is the current standard of care for the terminally ill, prisoners have a right to quality hospice care" (Head). In the past, there was a lot of discussion as to if an on-site hospice would be an acceptable addition to prison life, or if on-site infirmaries, nearby medical care units for prisons, hospitals, or compassionate care would be enough to take care of the health of sick or dying inmates. Now that prison hospices have become more common and convenient, but not necessarily more helpful, citizens tend to debate whether or not the procedures used at the Louisiana State Penitentiary's hospice program should be utilized or cut out of the program. In their hospice system, they allow volunteer, trustworthy inmates to undertake a training course in order to help take care of the dying and ill inmates on prison grounds (Evans). Many citizens are hesitant to think that those who have most likely killed other people themselves are assisting in the aid of dying men. Many solely feel as though it should not be available as a position for inmates given their record, but those who support the position believe strongly that it is not putting anyone at risk or in danger, but the complete opposite (Bronstein). 

So many of the volunteer hospice inmates, their supervisors, and their coworkers believe that the process of learning about care for other humans and putting it into practice has made them into better individuals. An inmate volunteer interviewed by ABC News said that caring for these men has made him grow up and see the kind of monster he was that helped get him locked in prison. The inmates and those working around them in prison hospice believe that this position, more than other positions that they have held at the penitentiary, has saved them, turned them into something no one thought they were, and helped them repent for their wrongdoings. In an article entitled, "Kidnappers Care for Murderers at End of Life," Susan Donaldson James quotes Marilyn Sales, a nurse administrator at Iowa State, remarking, "one bad decision, one stupid mistake and you are there for life. No one should die alone" (James). The inmates that are volunteering have recognized their wrongs but by doing this, they are desperately trying to move forward for their own forgiveness. However, no one in this system, including the inmates themselves, is letting them forget they are still, in fact, in prison. There are restricted tasks that the volunteers cannot preform, including obvious professionally-trained medical procedures and working beyond their frame of hours. 

Stated on the Louisiana State Penitentiary website, there are goals that the prison strives to maintain. One of these goals includes the hopeful statement, "Through the provision of quality health services, [we] assure that the health of all offenders is adequately evaluated and that proper and effective treatment is provided as needed in order to maintain offender health" (Department of Public). Despite what people who doubt the hospice volunteer program believe, the prison itself considers their program to be effective and having a high quality. Though there are people who do not think it is ethical to allow past criminals to be measuring and renewing the health of other past criminals, the website, stated in their goal, does not let neither the patient nor the volunteer forget that they are offenders. But is that fair to either party? It is hard to say that the patients have been on good trust levels with the prison, but the volunteers have clearly worked hard to gain the trust to be in these positions. Is there really a reason to continue calling them offenders? 

The prison prides itself on their high quality treatment of their inmates. Yes, the operators work their hardest "to further rehabilitative efforts by providing an environment that enables behavioral changes by making rehabilitation opportunities available to offenders, which will increase their odds of being successfully reintegrated into society" (Department of Public). They believe that their form of treatment and opportunities offered to their prisoners can help them change into a man that society wants to see and of whom we want to be proud to know. The treatment of their prisoners is high quality, for many of these men do turn their lives within the prison gates around and learn their true potential. However, if they are as serious about making these behavioral changes as they say, then the first step they should make towards the inmates is to remind them that they are not their mistakes. Obviously, heinous crimes have been committed, but those actions are going to live with the inmate for the rest of their lives; it does no good for people on the outside to constantly remind inmates of the bad actions that have since changed the courses of their lives. Not calling them offenders, inmates, or prisoners, but referring to them as the people, individuals, or even citizens that they are could instantly be the first type of rehabilitation needed to push them into wanting to change their behavior.

In regards to the concern of whether or not the inmates need better treatment, Ruffin G. Pleasant, a previous governor of Louisiana, pointed out that "the word 'penitentiary' means a place where the guilty may have an opportunity to become penitent ... Not every convict is altogetherbad. In fact, very few of them are wholly evil. Many a one has a lot of good in him. It is the duty of the state to develop that good" (Pleasant). It is so easy to come to the conclusion that the men in the state penitentiary systems are their mistakes and will never be more than their mistakes. These kinds of thoughts come from the trauma that their mistakes have caused many individuals and the inability to forget the terrible past. However, even though it is difficult to see through the actions of certain individuals, being able to see someone change their lives could be a rewarding or satisfying feeling. A penitentiary is, like Governor Pleasant explained, a place for renewal. If Angola believes in its mission and goals, then the inmates truly deserve the support that Angola can give them to restart their lives. By allowing inmates chances to stand on their own feet after time periods of showing positive progress, Angola shows the prisoners that they can work towards something better for themselves. Though there are slim chances of prisoners being released from Angola, circumstances could adjust for a prisoner, and with Angola's pushes forward and treating those inmates like the people they are, they prepare them for a better life where the prisoner can know certain trades and can be a contributing part of society. 

During my trip to Angola, the prisoners I met were clearly not happy that they were in prison, but they were very satisfied with the ways that the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola allowed them to change their lives and give them the chances to learn new trades and, in turn, learn things about themselves that they would not have known if they were left for crime and dangerous activities. Of course, vastly different personal experiences would make people hesitant to want these men back in our neighborhoods and working for us. However, the lives these men lead now, in prison, have been preparing them for the slight chance they have of being released. And even if not released, they have still worked hard for themselves and for the other men at Angola that they have realized how much they can do. Knowing that they can properly run a radio station or lay someone down to rest is such an incredible benefit to their lives. The way that Angola pushes their prisoners to make something of themselves is an extremely respectful attribute, for they deserve to be treated like the rest of us. 

