In 1995 Burl Cain became warden at Louisiana State Penitentiary ("Angola"), the most violent prison in America. Ninety percent of the inmates knew they would be there for the rest of their lives with no incentive to reform. Most mornings he came to work, Cain learned there had been stabbings, beatings or other bloody violence in the night.
The state Secretary of Corrections told him to change it - somehow. Cain says he was not smart enough to do that, but being a Christian, he prayed for wisdom. The culture of the prison had to change.
New Orleans Baptist Seminary established a campus at the prison, with no faith required of the students, and was able to grant genuine college degrees. (The ACLU helped the warden walk a legal line with this.) Some students became ministers - of any religion including Islam - and the culture changed over the years.
Angola used to be a place of violence, death and hopelessness. Today, it's miraculously different.
(cont'd tomorrow)
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