Angola III

Yesterday I went for a viewing of the film ‘In the Land of the Free’ (by Vadim Jean) about the three Black Panther members that has been held in solitary confinement for more than thirty years. This is torture and nothing else. The three persons are Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox and Robert King. King has been released but the other two are still held in solitary confinement.

The Louisiana State Penitentiary, also called Angola is built on an old slave plantation that was worked by slaves from Angola, therefore the name.

Today it’s a private prison and the prisoners have to work on the field and the prison owner takes the profit and put it in their own pockets. To me that is the same system as the slave plantation system.

The new warden at the prison believes that you cannot repent unless you turn Christian and share his religious faith. Prisoners that join his faith get better treatment than others.

The Angola also has a rodeo where prisoners are fighting the horse or the bull. They have one ‘game’ where four prisoners sits around a table and the person sitting the longest after the bull attack gets $200. I suppose the rodeo crew is awarded privileged treatment in the prison. The ‘game’ reminds me of the roman gladiators in the Coliseum in Rome, in other words an ancient practice.
See rodeo video from Louisiana State Penitentiary website:
Angola Rodeo

The Angola prison is a scary example of what is wrong with privately owned prisons and since HM Prison Service has started to contract out prisons to private companies we can expect the same future in Britain.  

I strongly recommend people to watch the film about the Angola III and to get involved in the fight to get the two remaining Angola III out of Angola and free at last. (See links below)

In The Land of the Free

Amnesty International