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Inmate-Quarters

Louisiana routinely reaches weather over 90 degrees Fahrenheit for many months of the year. Angola's lack of sustained air conditioning is a public health concern. ^[1] Additionally, lack of air-conditioning in extreme heat, which is a situation common in Angola, is linked to mortality in similar scenarios. ^[2]

Inmate Mental Health

According to an American Psychological Association report from 2005, more than half of all incarcerated people in the United States (including those in State prisons, Federal prisons, and local jails) had at least one mental illness. ^[3] Further research went on to show that up to 15% of this population had four or five comorbid mental health conditions, an astonishing number that far exceeds the prevalence of such conditions in the general population. ^[4] Additionally, the prevalence of mental illness in prisons is chronically under-researched and explored. Oftentimes, they are dismissed as being solely substance abuse disorders, and comorbid disorders are frequently dismissed as a possibility. ^[5]

Mental Health and Faith at Angola

Though studies on the mental health of inmates incarcerated at the Louisiana State Penitentiary have not yet been conducted, it is fair to assume that the rates of mental illness would be similar to what we see in prisons across the country. What we do know well about Louisiana State Penitentiary regards some of their non-traditional mental health interventions. One such initiative is a faith-based prototype program for mental healthcare and inmate rehabilitation known as the Angola Prison Seminary. This model focuses on introducing inmates to faith and helping them to find value and purpose through it – be that internally or externally through serving as an Inmate Minister. Through this position, inmates are trained to offer counseling to other inmates, deliver sermons at religious services, officiate funerals for fellow prisoners, and deliver care packages to ill inmates. This model proved to be particularly effective in Louisiana State Penitentiary, especially with its "sidewalk counseling" component. In this type of guidance, the counseling inmate asks leading questions and helps to guide the other inmate to answering their own question, without revealing any type of positionality. This model positively impacted both the counselor and the advisee, as the counselor felt an increased sense of self-worth by helping someone else, and the advisee felt heard and seen, maybe for the first time in his life. ^[6] The New York Times reported that this program can help inmates feel at peace with themselves and their lives, an admittedly difficult task given the nature of many of the inmates' sentences. Reports noted that the Bible College behind bars made the prison feel significantly more relaxed than it truly was.

Faith is referenced many times as being a catalyst for positive change in the lives of lots of Louisiana State Penitentiary inmates. Author Mark Baker describes this connection in his book entitled You Can Change: Stories from Angola Prison and the Psychology of Personal Transformation. Here, Baker discusses how the high rates of reincarceration among Louisiana State Penitentiary inmates serves as an extremely demoralizing and discouraging reminder of the historical and systemic factors that landed them behind bars in the first place. Given the highly religious background of many of the inmates, who come largely from Louisiana, Mississippi, and other southern states, faith has proven to be a very strong motivator for many of the inmates in Angola. Baker discusses how inmates exposed to religious practices while incarcerated often went on to find a higher purpose in themselves and better avoid future reincarceration. ^[7]

This faith-based approach to mental healthcare is also seen in palliative care at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Due to the largely older population of inmates at Louisiana State Penitentiary, the prison sees much higher rates of intakes than release as many men pass away while incarcerated. In partnership with the University Hospital Community Hospice program based out of New Orleans, the Louisiana State Penitentiary has introduced a hospice program for terminally ill inmates. ^[8] Inmate Ministers are able to assist in counseling with the ill inmates, as well as help them practice faith if they are interested in doing so. As seen with the other responsibilities they were assigned, this serious duty proved beneficial to not only the recipients, but the Inmate Ministers as well. ^[6]

Though the blend of mental healthcare and faith interventions has been controversial and yielded mixed results in many spaces, research suggests that it is working positively in Louisiana State Penitentiary. Though it is unclear why, the large role of religion, particularly Christianity, in the Southern United States, could be a major factor in this occurrence.

Violations of Inmate Rights

In 2021, a federal judge found that the Louisiana State Penitentiary violated the Americans with Disabilities Act through its treatment of inmates requiring rehabilitative services. ^[9] The evidence in this finding, which highlighted the poor leadership and supervision present at the penitentiary, included over 600 instances of neglect towards inmate care. ^[9] This, in turn, negatively impacted all of those inmates and more, leaving them to face both physical and mental repercussions. ^[9] Particularly relevant to mental health, the evidence in this decision included material showing that the penitentiary does not accommodate the needs of disabled inmates. ^[9] Instead of being allowed to participate in programming for the general population of inmates, inmates with physical and mental disabilities are assigned orderlies. ^[9] Without providing a detailed description, the article states that the orderlies are permitted by the penitentiary leadership to extort the inmates to which they are assigned. ^[9] The judge, Chief U.S, District Judge Shelly D. Dick, ultimately ruled that the Louisiana State Penitentiary had committed a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and concluded his opinion by describing fifteen areas in which the prison was in need of injunctive relief. ^[9]

Inmates at Louisiana State Penitentiary are also allowed to independently run their own churches, making it the only penitentiary in the country to do so. ^[9] Though the roots of this practice lie in the penitentiary's history with slavery, the freedom to run their own churches and religious organizations is look upon favorably by inmates at Louisiana State Penitentiary. ^[9]