Before 1835, the inmates were housed in a vermin infested jail in New Orleans (Angola Museum, n.d.). In that same year, the first Louisiana State Penitentiary was built. The penitentiary was built on the corner of sixth and Laurel Streets in Baton Rouge using a plan similar to a prison in Wethersfield, Connecticut (Angola Museum, n.d.). In 1844, the penitentiary and the inmates were leased to the private firm of McHatton Pratt (Angola Museum, n.d.). During the Civil War union Troops occupied the penitentiary. Then in1869 the lease was given to a Confederate Major by the name of Samuel James. The James Family was in charge of the Louisiana Corrections for the next 31 years (Angola Museum, n.d.). In 1880, Major James bought an eight thousand …show more content…
In 1901 until 1916, the Board of Control operated Corrections. The Board of Control is a three-member panel appointed by the Governor of Louisiana (Angola Museum, n.d.). The first things the board did was purchase the eight thousand-acre of Angola Plantation (Angola Museum, n.d.). New camps were built and many new security officers were hired (Angola Museum, n.d.). The beating towards inmates was stopped and the death rate of inmates was reduced by 72% (Angola Museum, n.d.). The floods of 1903 and 1912 ruined the crops and put Angola in economic chaos (Angola Museum, n.d.). In 1916, the legislature eliminated the Board of Control and made Henry L. Fuqua as General Manager of the penitentiary (Angola Museum, n.d.). Mr. Fuqua, as an economic measure, fired almost all of the security officers at Angola and instead he had put selected inmate trusty guards (Angola Museum, …show more content…
In January 1994, Angola achieved initial accreditation from the American Correctional Association (ACA) and has maintained ACA accreditation since then. ACA accreditation forms the foundation of operations at Angola and is a continuing catalyst for growth and change (Angola Museum, n.d.). After initial ACA accreditation, Angola then began to build this operational foundation through independent ACA accreditation for its training academy and health care program (Angola Museum, n.d.). This required Angola to not only meet the national standards for adult correctional institutions, but also the additional standards developed specifically for correctional training academies and performance-based health care standards for adult institutions. The David C. Knapps Correctional Officer Training Academy received initial accreditation in January 2002, becoming the eighth accredited correctional training facility in the United States (Angola Museum, n.d.). The R. E. Barrow, Jr., Treatment Center received initial accreditation through performance-based health care standards in January 2003 (Angola Museum, n.d.). Secretary Stalder and Angola's current Warden, Burl Cain, continue the pursuit of physical plant improvements, as evidenced by the renovations of Cellblocks A and B at the Main Prison, Jaguar