Angola

Gruesome Gertie used to travel from Parish to Parish in Louisiana, but otherwise she stayed put at Angola. Along with her traveled the special "hat" that one wore with her, it is leather with leather straps. But the buckles are metal. The mask also traveled with Gruesome Gertie as well. And it too was made of leather, crudely hand sewn with two holes cut for your eyes. All the better to see out with. A sea sponge and galvanized steel bucket, chosen because it doesn't corrode easily, also accompanied her on her appointed rounds. I would guess that the grim reaper probably was hot on her heels seeking those who would be with Gruesome Gertie as they met their end. 
She is made of oak, unvarnished and unstained. Solid oak. Her arms were thick and her legs straight, nothing particularly pretty about them. She is simply constructed, in a very utilitarian way.  Her seat however bore the unmistakable marks of many bottoms that were perched there. Her back was tall and straight. Not slatted, but not solid. There is a wide center section to lean against and two outside pieces which became her legs, all of one piece. I notice things like this being married to a carpenter.
On display now in the museum, I saw where initials had been carved into her left arm. The beginnings of a word also was there, bearing a grim testament to the unfailing desire of men everywhere to be remembered. I touched them, ran my fingers along the grooves, trying to determine exactly what someone wanted to say, feeling an almost overwhelming sadness. They were right about the place where your hand would rest if you were sitting in her. 
Gruesome Gertie was the preferred method of execution for Louisiana for decades until the United States Supreme Court outlawed the electric chair as a means of execution. Now of course like in many other states, including Texas, lethal injection is the legal alternative to electrocution. And so Gruesome Gertie has been retired and stands in stoic silence in the Louisiana State Penitentiary Museum. She has been unceremoniously placed in a corner of a room near the back of the building keeping her secrets as to how the last minutes were for so many, and bearing silent testimony to the number of lives she helped end. Her name comes from the prisoners themselves. They gave her that name. And it stays with her still. 
Seeing the Museum dedicated to the long history of the prison commonly called Angola and all of its exhibits was like entering a church. People spoke softly, walked quietly and touched the exhibits that were out in the open and could be touched reverently. I never knew anyone who was imprisoned there, and really didn't know much of the facility's history but the exhibits are filled with bits and pieces of many some one's life. Sometimes the life was short coming to a violent end inside the fence, sometimes ending at the hands of the state, sometimes after many years of confinement the end came in other ways. 
The prison has been in existence since the 1860s. It has had many inglorious years, many years filled with cruelty not just by guards but by prisoners against each other, and many years of neglect with many more years when it and the people inside were simply ignored. It housed not just men in the past but also women, so people. The public, the politicians, the families of inmates all pretending it didn't exist. 
We saw coffins handmade in the carpentry shop by "offenders" (the state's new word for prisoners or inmates) for other prisoners. We saw the Caisson that is hitched to two black horses to take inmates to their final resting place on prison grounds, giving them some semblance of dignity since while incarcerated at Angola, dignity was not high on the list of necessities and so was in short supply. The Caisson was also handmade in the carpentry shop by offenders. It was black, beautifully carved with the two long sides inset with glass and the back doors held a large brass handle and lock. 
There were exhibits of attempted escapes, weapons confiscated from inmates, pictures of the "old" Angola, named for the country in Africa where most of the slaves came from. We learned about their farming operations, the number of inmates, that it is the largest maximum security prison in the U.S., and that one of the buildings in Angola is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 
The museum sells food items produced for the public by the convicts. Louisiana hot sauce with the name of Guts & Glory, different jellies & jams, and spices & herbs. We learned about the Rodeo, the longest continuously running prison Rodeo in the U.S.  presented every Sunday in October and that all of the participants are inmates. We saw books, t-shirts and "prison issue" striped shirts made similar to scrubs all of which are about the prison many of which are made by the prison inmates. The stripes, by the way, have been retired and the offenders now only wear white jumpsuits, instead. 
The museum was an interesting place, but not one I felt comfortable lingering in as I usually do in museums. It reminded me too much of the huge numbers of lives wasted, the enormous amount of suffering & pain that man can inflict on man, and the unbridled disaster that we can make of our lives without guidance from God.

The Museum told you about the statistics, but the state
took over 150 years to start trying to change them. And
then only under federal mandate. 

It was said that when someone was sentenced to Angola,
they would usually break down in tears over the thought
of having to spend their life there.

My opinion, this is a correct statement. She spent her life
in the penitentiary and that shortened it considerably.

These were the opening exhibits for the museum. After this
I had a hard time taking pictures of the rest of the exhibits.

If you can imagine your child being sold to pay for another
child's education. 

This one is difficult to read, but states
simply that most women were arrested
& convicted of larceny (theft.) White
women were given short terms of just
a few months, black women were given
many years for the same crime. Most
were stealing food to survive.

It was commonly believed that slaves
were never imprisoned. But they were
in Louisiana. 

Gruesome Gertie

The carvings by men who were electrocuted in this chair.

An example of the coffins made for convicts in the carpentry
shop by other inmates.

The back of the Caisson or funeral hearse. This was beautiful
and touching to see that even in a place like Angola, known
as the Alcatraz of the South, men crave dignity and this
was their only way of receiving it.

Everything on or in the Caisson was made in the shops at
Angola. From the hearse itself to the curtains in the windows
to the lamps where the driver sat.

In 1977, the Mississippi
flooded its banks, making
living in the dormitories
and cells at Angola
impossible. This hammer
was used by the convicts
for tent stakes so they
would have a place to
live and sleep.

Rodeo memorabilia for the Angola Prison Rodeo. Most of the
visitors who come for the Rodeo still leave not even giving a
thought to the fact that the men in the Rodeo never leave
Angola as most inmates there are under life sentences.

This was a typical cell in Angola
up until the federal mandates were
enforced in the 1970s. However,
most inmates live in dormitory style
housing which makes them very
vulnerable to rape, murder, slavery
and disfigurement by other inmates still.