(ANGOLA, LA) All media representatives are welcome to attend any and all of the following upcoming events to be held at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Interested journalists should contact Assistant Warden Angie Norwood or Cathy Fontenot at (225) 655-2897 or 655-2002 in order to make arrangements. We are also prepared to send information as well as make prison public information officers available for television appearances. Prison authorities will be obliged to provide tours of the fortified levee system that is currently doing its job to keep rising waters from the "father of waters" away from the Angola mainlands.

The 6th Annual Wardens and Supervisors Conference of Joni and Friends International Disability Center's Wheels for the World is set for April 16-18. Angola's on site program will play host to our counterparts from other prison programs around the country. Workshops featuring wheelchair assembly, inmate testimonies and presentations of other faith-based and community-based partnership programs geared to lower recidivism and increase volunteerism and assistance to those in need will occur throughout the conference.

On Saturday April 19th and Sunday April 20, gates open for the world famous Angola Prison Rodeo. Tickets only $10 bucks! All seats under covered arena. Gates open at 9 a.m. Music, arts and crafts and more concessions than can be imagined available throughout the day. First event kicks off at 2 p.m. sharp and arts and crafts available for an additional hour after the Wildest Show in the South ends at 4 p.m. Don't forget to bring the kids to enjoy the sights and sounds of the Rodeo and the ever-growing Kiddie Land midway - featuring face art, dunking booth, slides, merry-go-round, and bloodhounds!! International media as well as Rolling Stone magazine are signed up to cover this year's event.

We are honored to invite you to attend the Dedication Ceremony of the Chapel at Camp F. Beginning on Sunday, April 20th at 10:30 a.m., inmate gospel musicians, state and local representatives and special guest speaker Evangelist Franklin Graham of Semaritan's Purse will officially dedicate Angola's newest chapel.

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(Angola, LA) – The Louisiana State Penitentiary (LSP) is dedicating the third chapel built on prison grounds at the Main Prison on Friday, December 28 at 11:30 a.m. It is the largest prison chapel of its kind to date, serving more than 2,800 inmates within the confines of the Main Prison. Inmate bible college graduates and ministers will participate in the program, along with distinguished guest speakers from Louisiana and Illinois.

In 1998, Warden Burl Cain set out to build a chapel in every inmate-housing unit at LSP. This vision soon grew to include a chapel in all Louisiana prisons. The chapels at LSP are funded largely through proceeds from the Angola Prison Rodeo and private donations. The Louisiana Prison Chapel Foundation is the driving force behind the prison chapels being built across the state, and the major contributor of those built or under construction at Dixon Correctional Institute, Elayn Hunt Correctional Center, Avoyelles Correctional Center, David Wade Correctional Center, C. Paul Phelps Correctional Center, Forcht-Wade Correctional Center, Rayburn Correctional Center and Winn Correctional Center.

LSP is recognized throughout the country for emerging from its 1970's reputation as the "bloodiest prison in America" to today being one of the most secure, humane, and efficiently run prisons in the country. Warden Cain credits this amazing transformation to moral rehabilitation programs, which include the Angola Extension of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, the only four-year college degree program where inmates can earn a degree from an accredited university, and the Inmate Missionary Program that provides inmate ministers throughout LSP and other Louisiana prisons. "Even if I were an atheist, I’d have a strong religious program in my prison. Religious people do not normally commit murder, rob, or rape," says Warden Cain. There are approximately 3,000 inmates participating in moral rehabilitation programs at LSP. These men strive for moral rehabilitation and it shows: Since 1995, inmate violence has steadily declined to an all-time low by year-end 2006.

Angie Norwood: (225) 655-2897

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(225) 655-2897

Louisiana State Penitentiary Meets National Standards for Prison Operations

Independent inspection reveals Angola is one of the best run, correctionally sound prisons in the nation!

(Angola, LA) – LSP is recognized throughout the country for emerging from its 1970's reputation as the "bloodiest prison in America" to today being one of the most secure, humane, and efficiently run prisons in the country, due largely to the influence of the American Correctional Association (ACA). For the fifth time since assuming the position of warden at the state’s largest and only maximum-security prison, Warden Burl Cain successfully led the prison through yet another demanding inspection by the ACA.

The ACA and the Commission on Accreditation for Corrections (CAC) are private, nonprofit organizations that administer the only international accreditation program for all components of adult and juvenile corrections. Their purpose is to promote improvement in the management of correctional agencies through the administration of a voluntary accreditation program and the ongoing development and revision of relevant, useful standards that establish the national benchmark for effective operation of correctional systems throughout the United States. The individual standards themselves concentrate on services, programs, and operations essential to good correctional management and reflect practical, up-to-date policies and procedures that safeguard the life, health, and safety of staff and inmates.

For more information and/or photos, members of the press may contact:

Angie Norwood: (225) 655-2897

August 22, 2007

Contact: Angie Norwood

(225) 655-2897

ANGOLA, LA, and STREAMWOOD, Ill., (Aug. 22, 2007) – More than 1,000 boys and girls are registered to spend a rare and unforgettable day with their inmate fathers at Louisiana State Penitentiary on September 8, thanks to a joint effort between the penitentiary and Chicago-based Awana, an international children and youth ministry.

The Returning Hearts Celebration, which runs from 8 a.m.–4 p.m., will bring children into a carnival atmosphere at Angola, enabling them to spend a fun-filled day with their fathers enjoying crafts, games and a meal together.  About 500 inmates will participate.

 Inmates and their children also will have an opportunity to memorize Scripture verses together, the hallmark of the Awana program that emphasizes practical application of the Bible to daily living and runs in thousands of churches worldwide. 

 “Hope is rising in a place that once was considered little more than a prolonged death sentence,” said Jack Eggar, president of Awana.  “We are delighted to bring a spiritual lifeline to Angola inmates and their families, just as we do throughout the world.” 

 “Returning Hearts is an important step toward reconciliation between inmates and their children.  Anyone who has witnessed the joy of this day and the way it bonds families will never forget it,” added Lyndon Azcuna, director of cross-cultural ministries for Awana.

 The Louisiana State Penitentiary was once deemed the most violent prison in the nation.  Since becoming warden in 1995, Burl Cain has instituted a number of effective programs at the prison aimed towards moral rehabilitation.  

 “Regardless of circumstances, children need to know their father loves them in order to grow up as emotionally healthy adults that are less likely to repeat the cycle of violence,” Warden Cain said, noting that statistics indicate children of an incarcerated parent are seven times more likely than their peers to end up in prison themselves.

 To reverse this trend and bring children and their fathers closer together, Cain contacted Awana in 2003 for help.  The result was Awana Lifeline/Angola, a four-part initiative comprised of the Returning Hearts Celebration, Malachi Dads for inmates, Lifeline clubs where their children are located and the year-round Lifeline Handbook program, which enables inmate fathers and their children to work through Awana Bible lessons in tandem. 

 The Lifeline lessons were specifically created for Angola inmates and their children to help them grow in their relationship and faith – and to keep kids from following their dads to prison. 

The September 8 Returning Hearts Celebration is the annual culmination of Lifeline/Angola.  However, participation in the Awana program is not a requirement for inmates and their children to attend the event.  The criterion is good behavior throughout the year on the part of the inmate.

 This year will also mark the completion of the first group of Malachi Dads, which teaches Christian inmates at Angola how to grow into Godly fathers, equipping them to spiritually train their kids from behind bars.

 In addition to programming, Awana also is responsible for coordinating hundreds of volunteers for the day to help with chaperoning, transportation, games, food service and other tasks.

 For more information about Returning Hearts or to volunteer, visit www.awana.org/lifeline.

 Awana is an international ministry that helps children and youth grow morally and spiritually by learning to apply the Bible to their lives.  Each week, more than a million kids are involved in Awana through 16,000 churches worldwide.  Awana is the only organization with fully integrated evangelism and discipleship programs for children from ages 2-18 that actively involve parents, church leaders and mentors.  For nearly 60 years, Awana has been a leader in children’s ministry by helping kids know, love and serve God. 

 For more information contact:

Don Beehler at 615.566.0776 / dbeehler@ctcreative.com

 For media credentials to attend Returning Hearts, contact:

Angie Norwood at 225.665.2897/anorwood@corrections.state.la.us

July 10, 2007

Contact: Angie Norwood

(225) 655-2897

(Angola, LA) – On Friday, June 22, twenty children of Angola inmates began a journey of a lifetime: a week-long, all-expense paid trip to the Word of Life Ministry Camp 2007 in Schroon Lake, New York.

For the past three years, Warden Burl Cain has enabled fathers incarcerated at Angola to send their children to summer camp. And, what an awesome camp experience it is. The Word of Life Ministry Camp is a camp unlike any other with 45-acres devoted exclusively to teen excitement and growth in Christ. Thousands of teens from across the U.S. and around the world spend a week on the Word of Life Island "The Rock" each summer. Handpicked camp counselors spend all of their time with the campers, mentoring them towards Christlikeness. In addition to the ministry and counseling activities, "The Rock" offers an exciting array of indoor and outdoor sporting activities for both individual and team competitions.

In 2005, Warden Burl Cain, who believes moral rehabilitation is the only real rehabilitation, seized an opportunity offered through the Word of Life Fellowship organization to extend the faith-based programming efforts of the prison beyond the gates and into the lives of children whose fathers were incarcerated at Angola. Understanding that only by ensuring the children of inmates learn, grow and develop into quality individuals and citizens, will we then break the cycle of criminal behavior and imprisonment, Warden Cain worked with Christian leaders of Word of Life Fellowship and Angola to send the first group children to experience first-hand the "Word of Life" with all travel cost, camp tuition and related expenses paid through scholarships, private donations, and inmate club organizations. The children were selected through application by their fathers and, because the experience was such a powerful one that first year, Warden Cain vowed to make it an annual trip.

The trip in June marked the third one to New York for children of Angola inmates. A total of sixty-five children so far have been given this amazing gift of a lifetime – one that will hopefully inspire these children to shape and change this generation for God!

E-mail: anorwood@corrections.state.la.us

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May 14, 2007 Contact: Angie Norwood

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (225) 655-2897

(Angola) Warden Burl Cain of the Louisiana State Penitentiary and Dr. Charles Kelly, president of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS), announce the graduation of forty-four inmate students at its Angola Extension Center on May 22, 2007. The 41-Associate Degrees and 42-Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Christian Ministries will be awarded during commencement exercises at the Tudy Chapel, located within the maximum-security gates of Louisiana State Penitentiary.

The NOBTS began classes on September 11, 1995, at Louisiana State Penitentiary. The program developed from a vision of Warden Cain, who saw a need to instill hope and peace among the inmate population. Warden Cain shared this vision with Dr. T.W. Terrel, director of missions for the Judson Baptist Association in Baton Rouge, who in turn contacted Dr. Chuck Kelly, president of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Through the efforts of these three Christian administrators, an extension center for the NOBTS was established at Angola.

Since inception, the NOBTS college-degree program has been hugely successful in promoting high moral values among the inmate population. The evidence is clear in that the incidents of violence at Angola have dropped drastically, a direct relation to the moral rehabilitation of the prison.

Interested media should contact Angie Norwood (225) 655-2897 for details on media passes.

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