In 1869, during the Reconstruction era, Samuel Lawrence James, a former Confederate major, received the military lease to the future prison property along the Mississippi River.

After he died in 1846, Franklin's widow, by then known as Adelicia Cheatham, joined these plantations: Panola, Belle View, Killarney, and Angola, when she sold them all in 1880 to Samuel Lawrence James, the former CSA officer.

With the incentive to earn money from prisoners, the state passed laws directed at African Americans, requiring payment of minor fees and fines as punishment for infractions.

[30][31] In addition, Margaret Dixon, managing editor of the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate for two decades, worked for prison reform, specifically, construction of other facilities to reduce the population at Angola.

"[42] On August 31, 2008, New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin stated in a press conference that anyone arrested for looting during the evacuation of the city due to Hurricane Gustav would not be housed in the city/parish jail, but instead sent directly to Angola to await trial.

Convicts and their defense counsels have challenged such lengthy stays in solitary confinement, which is harmful to both mental and physical health and has been considered to be "cruel and unusual punishment" under the US Constitution.

[50] In 2023, U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick, ruled that the juvenile detainees in Angola were being held in conditions that were unconstitutional and ordered their removal from temporary lockup.

[52] Angola was designed to be as self-sufficient as possible; it functioned as a miniature community with a canning factory, a dairy, a mail system, a small ranch, repair shops, and a sugar mill.

Jimmy LeBlanc, the corrections secretary, said in October 2010 that the State of Louisiana could save about $1.8 million during the remaining nine months of the 2010–2011 fiscal year if it closed CCR and moved prisoners to unused death row cells and possibly some Camp D double bunks.

[76] It has four extended lockdown cellblocks, which contained prisoners with disciplinary problems, and one dormitory with minimum and medium custody inmates who provide housekeeping functions for Camp J.

Brian A. Jackson, the district federal judge, ordered temperature data collection at the Angola death row for three weeks to determine the conditions.

During that time, Angola officials blasted the outer walls of the prison with water cannons and installed window awnings to attempt to lower temperature data.

[83] In December 2013, U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson ruled that the heat index of the prison was cruel and unusual punishment, and therefore, a cooling system must be installed.

"[104] Originally constructed to serve as a conference center to supplement the meeting room in the Angola administration building, the "Ranch House" received its name after Burl Cain was selected as Warden.

Michael L. Varnado and Daniel P. Smith of Victims of Dead Man Walking stated that the guard house "looks like a large carport over the road.

[119] Brooke Shelby Biggs of Mother Jones reported that men who had lived in "Red Hat" "told of a dungeon crawling with rats, where dinner was served in stinking buckets splashed onto the floors.

The Angolite gained a national reputation as a quality magazine and won international awards under two prisoner editors, Wilbert Rideau and Billy Sinclair,[143] who became co-editors in 1978.

Jenny Lee Rice of Paste wrote, "the need to disseminate information rapidly is critical" because Angola is the largest prison in the United States.

[56] New equipment, including a new transmitter, allowed KLSP to broadcast in stereo for the first time, utilize satellite to expand its daily airtime to 20 hours, and upgrade its programming.

According to Louisiana Department of Corrections policy, inmates on death row are held in solitary confinement during the entire time they are incarcerated, even if appeals take years.

[153] The lawsuit describes basic conditions on death row:[154] This lawsuit was settled in October 2021, requiring that inmates on death row are granted a minimum of four hours out of their cells to congregate with other incarcerated people in their tier each day, at least five hours of communal outdoor recreation each week, the ability to worship together, evening time out of their cells on their tier, at least one meal with other prisoners per day, group classes and contact visitations.

Michael L. Varnado and Daniel P. Smith of Victims of Dead Man Walking stated that, on many occasions, the rest of Angola is not aware of the execution being carried out.

[166] Here, Baker discusses how the high rates of reincarceration among Louisiana State Penitentiary inmates serves as an extremely demoralizing and discouraging reminder of the historical and systemic factors that landed them behind bars in the first place.

Due to the predominantly older population of inmates at Louisiana State Penitentiary, the prison sees much higher rates of intake than releases, as many men pass away while incarcerated.

[165] Though the blend of mental healthcare and faith interventions has been controversial and yielded mixed results in many spaces,[168] research like Baker's suggests it works positively in Louisiana State Penitentiary.

[169] In 2021, a federal judge found that the Louisiana State Penitentiary violated the Americans with Disabilities Act in treating inmates requiring rehabilitative services.

The film, directed by Bruce McDonald, focuses on a concert at the prison, organized by Chiarelli, that featured four bands comprising musicians incarcerated in Angola.

The song refers to the case of former Angola warden C. Murray Henderson, who was sentenced to 50 years in prison for the attempted murder of his wife, writer Anne Butler: Release me from this life I will seek my punishment On the other side but the judge said "Warden in cold blood you shot your poor poor wife You're going back to Angola, there your hell to find" New Orleans rap artist Juvenile has part of a verse in the Hot Boys song "Dirty World" that says: They'll plant dope on ya, go to court on ya Give ya 99 years and slam the door on us Angola, the free man bout it, he don't play Nigga get outta line, ship 'em to camp J New Orleans pianist James Booker mentions Angola prison in his cover of "Goodnight, Irene"; where he was sent for heroin possession: Lead Belly and little Booker both, had the pleasure of partying, on the pon de rosa, *laughs* you know what I mean, you dig?

Ain't a place in this whole damn city willing to hire me It's been twenty years Jazz trumpeter Christian Scott has a track on his 2010 album Yesterday You Said Tomorrow called "Angola, LA & the 13th Amendment" Texas Country Music artist Sam Riggs of Sam Riggs and the Night People (Austin, Texas) wrote and recorded a song called "Angola's Lament".

American folk rock duo Indigo Girls reference Angola in the song "The Rise of the Black Messiah" from their 2015 album One Lost Day.