October 12, 2018: Voices of the Formerly Incarcerated, Part Two- Angola Prison’s Racist History

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This week, we hear from Curtis Ray Davis II, who talks about the racist history of Angola Prison- the Louisiana State Penitentiary. After we read a statement from hunger striking prisoners in Orange County, we then hear a moving account from Davis. He talks about Louisiana’s non-unanimous verdict, which essentially nullifies the votes of non-white jury members. Davis spent decades in Angola, a former slave plantation turned prison. Speaking on a panel with other formerly incarcerated men at the Fight Toxic Prisons Conference in Pittsburgh, Davis’s experiences lead him to the group Decarcerate Louisiana. He stresses the racist history of prisons, and how racism plays out in contemporary prison facilities.