Explore every episode of the podcast Bloody Angola: A Podcast by Jim Chapman

In this episode of Bloody Angola, we conclude the look into and response to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as it relates to Louisiana Prisons.

Timestamps

10:13 Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

17:07 Medical Emergencies and Evacuations

25:53 Lessons Learned for Future Evacuations

35:58 Conclusion and Next Steps

In this episode of Bloody Angola, Woody and Jim continue with the look into and response to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as it relates to Louisiana Prisons by looking into the challenges faced as female prisoners made their way to Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women (LCIW), The use of Camp Amtrak as a temporary jail and the arrivals at lap at Angola. 

#LCIW #LSP #BloodyAngola #podcast #CampAmtrak #crime #truecrime 

Timestamps

18:49 LCIW Evacuees and Their Challenges

23:02 Influx at Louisiana State Penitentiary

34:21 Establishing Camp Amtrak

40:45 Operations at Camp Amtrak

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In this episode of "Bloody Angola," Woody and Jim continue to explore the catastrophic effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on Louisiana's prison system through the government report that came out after the storms.

They detail the urgent evacuation of thousands of inmates amid the chaos of Katrina's devastation and the subsequent challenges posed by Rita. Celebrating the successful transport of over 7,500 inmates to safety, and highlight acts of heroism during these events. 

Timestamps

03:59 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

11:20 Aftermath of the Storms

11:30 The Fate of Convicts

14:20 Evacuating Southernmost Parishes

18:57 Jefferson and Orleans Parish Evacuations

32:57 Evacuating Orleans Parish Prison

42:16 Successful Rescues Amid Chaos

#hurricane #prison #katrina #rita #louisiana #podcast #bloodyangola

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In this episode of Bloody Angola Podcast Woody and Jim discuss the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Ida on the prison system.

We recount the chaotic conditions during Katrina, where inmates like Dan Bright were left in flooded facilities without adequate emergency measures. As we turn to Hurricane Ida, we discuss what if anything was learned in response to the storms as it relates to prisons from the eyes of the inmates.

Timestamps

05:14 Hurricane Katrina's Nightmare

12:56 The Aftermath and Evacuations

19:57 Legal Actions 

23:18 Lessons from Hurricane Ida

35:59 Preparing for Future Storms In Prison

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NOTE:

Nothing discussed in today’s podcast has been adjudicated and no investigation is complete so anything reported in this podcast on the subject of Hunts Correctional are allegations made by whistleblowers and no wrong doing has been found as of this recording.It is very important to mention that the VAST majority of the employees at Hunt’s are amazing people and as we say often, there is good and bad in every profession. 

In this episode of Bloody Angola, we discuss a major investigation into the severe drug-related issues at Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel Louisiana, revealed through whistleblower accounts and WBRZ News Baton Rouge. 

Alarming overdoses among inmates, the role of a privileged inmate in drug trafficking, and high-ranking officers at the facility are all being investigated by the Louisiana State Police at the request of Gov. Jeff Landry and we catch you up on what is being alleged by whistleblowers and what the state is doing about it.

#Huntscorrectional #prison #jefflandry #jamesleblanc #bloodyangola #podcast #woodyoverton #jimchapman #louisiana 

Timestamps:

03:07 Whistleblower Revelations

06:55 Inside the Inmate Experience

10:43 Leadership Changes in Corrections

16:39 Governor's Investigation Begins

19:31 Tragic Overdose Incidents

22:21 Employee Arrests and Accountability

24:19 New Leadership Takes Charge

26:00 Ongoing Drug Problem Exposed

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In "Mistaken Identity," *Bloody Angola* recounts a wrongful arrest during a 1993 traffic stop and a wild two days in on of Louisiana’s most notorious Parish Prisons.

Timestamps

01:30 Young, Wild and Free

08:46 The Encounter with Law Enforcement

11:55 Arrival at East Baton Rouge Parish Prison

26:10 Life in the Holding Cell

35:37 The Revelation

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In this episode of Bloody Angola podcast we go back…to a long lost interview you need to hear when woody and Jim came up with the concept for Bloody Angola.

A special bonus drop for everyone!

Timestamps

02:42 Interview with Woody and Jim

06:01 History of Angola Prison

08:47 Collaboration Between Hosts

11:55 Guest Appearances and Stories

14:54 Graphic Content and Expectations

19:00 Unique Aspects of Angola Executions

23:20 Research and Historical Context

26:35 Conclusion and Promotions

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In this episode, The gripping tale of the Canton brothers is told, whose fateful robbery on Halloween 1911 led to the tragic murder of attorney Edgar Farrar Jr. and their subsequent arrest, sensational trial and the aftermath spent behind the wire, inside of Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.

Timestamps

01:30 The Canton Brothers' Crime

09:23 The Murder of Edgar Farrar Jr.

12:48 The Trial Begins

14:02 A Mistrial and New Trial

17:13 Verdicts Rendered

21:51 A Letter of Clemency

29:29 Changes in the Prison System

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In this episode of Bloody Angola, we delve into the second part of Extreme Heat, discussing a civil lawsuit by inmates against the prison. We examine the backgrounds of the inmates named as plaintiffs, detailing their convictions for serious crimes like murder and armed robbery. 

The discussion covers the judge's ruling on Eighth Amendment violations due to extreme prison temperatures. We also explore the Angola Prison Rodeo, focusing on inmate Myron Smith.

Legal developments include a federal judge ordering improvements for inmates working in extreme heat on the farm line, addressing allegations of inhumane conditions and forced labor. The conversation delves into the state's responses, and the aftermath.

Timestamps

02:19 Inmates' Criminal Backgrounds

06:56 Myron Smith: From Rodeo Champion to Plaintiff 

11:40 Federal Judge's Order on Angola Conditions

25:36 Inmates' Victories and Public Response

29:05 Legal Strategies and Inmate Advocacy

30:58 Inmate Law Libraries and Defense Strategies

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In this episode, Woody Overton and Jim Chapman examine the legal battle unfolding at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, where inmates are challenging the brutal working conditions in the fields. 

The lawsuit alleges many issues in the prison including the lack of breaks, absence of clean water, inadequate equipment, and extreme heat that endanger the prisoners' well-being. Plaintiffs like Myron Smith, Demarius Jackson, Nate Walker, and Darius Williams share the unjust treatment and unsafe practices they endure, invoking constitutional amendments prohibiting cruel punishment and involuntary servitude. 

We cover the lawsuit, the result and the aftermath in this episode.

Timestamps

05:53 Lawsuit Filed Against Angola State Penitentiary

12:56 Overview of the Voice of the Experienced (VOTE)

16:41 Plaintiffs Introduction: Myron Smith, Demarius Jackson, Nate Walker, Darius Williams

30:37 Psychological Risks and Administration of the Farm Line

35:33 Individual Allegations: Myron Smith

39:48 Individual Allegations: Darius Williams

42:48 Individual Allegations: Nate Walker

43:00 Individual Allegations: Demarius Jackson

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In this episode of Bloody Angola Podcast we discuss the remarkable journey of Warden Ross Maggio at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. The youngest warden in Angola history at just 36 years old, he was renowned for his resilience during a harrowing kidnapping incident and his transformative leadership. Through prioritizing inmate work, security, and rehabilitation programs, Maggio reshaped Bloody Angola from a violent environment to a safer, disciplined prison. 

By implementing proactive security measures and emphasizing discipline, Maggio significantly reduced violent incidents and set a new standard for effective prison management. Despite facing challenges and criticisms, his unwavering commitment to safety and order left a lasting impact on Angola's prison system.

Timestamps

04:01 Retirement Reflections

09:10 Winds of Change

19:16 New Beginnings at Hunt

23:25 Advocating for Inmates

25:40 System Crossroads

28:26 Farewell to Angola

#rossmaggio #louisiana #bloodyangola #podcast #prison #crime #criminal #warden 

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we delve into the wild weather events that have occured at Louisiana State Penitentiary.

It’s a special bonus episode for everyone this week!

In this episode of Bloody Angola Podcast we explore the history of tornados and flooding at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. The impact of catastrophic floods in 1922, which led to the expansion of Angola to prevent future evacuations and challenges faced by correctional staff during these events courtesy of Mother Nature.

Timestamps

02:14 History of Flooding in Angola

05:37 Weather Events in Angola

08:27 Electrical Service Disruption

09:41 Heavy Rainfall Inundation

12:19 Livingston Parish Prison Flood

16:09 Impact of Storms on Prisons

18:24 Orleans Parish Prison During Hurricane Katrina

24:43 Inmates' Plight During Hurricane Katrina

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In this episode, we delve into the world of America's most dangerous prisons, starting with Holman Correctional Facility in Alabama known as the Slaughterhouse. Moving on to Orleans Parish Prison with its reign of violence and numerous deaths. Pelican Bay State Prison in California is criticized for gang violence control, contrasting the setup with Angola. Rikers Island in New York is notorious with notable inmates like Tupac Shakur. Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, the largest maximum security prison in the U.S., known for its violent history, San Quentin, the oldest prison in California with death row for male prisoners, housing infamous criminals like Charles Manson. Folsom State Prison gained notoriety through Johnny Cash's concert. Sing Sing Correctional Facility, known for its electric chair executions. Attica Correctional Facility marked by riots and brutal violence, including the infamous Attica riot of 1971.

The episode also explores some of America's most dangerous female criminals, such as Belle Guinness, who killed over 40 people for insurance money. Gwendolyn Graham and Catherine May Wood, who killed elderly patients for thrill. Patty Hearst, who orchestrated her own kidnapping for ransom. Andrea Yates, who tragically drowned her five children due to severe mental health issues. Jane Toppin, a nurse who killed multiple patients. Nanny Doss, who poisoned multiple family members for financial gain. Delphine LaLaurie, who tortured and murdered slaves in New Orleans.

The episode further delves into the lives of the 10 most dangerous inmates globally, including Dennis Radar, the BTK killer, and a man nicknamed Charles Bronson, infamous for his violent prison behavior. El Chapo Guzman, the former drug lord, and David Berkowitz, known as the Son of Sam. Charles Cullen, an angel of death in the medical profession, and Joseph James D'Angelo, the Golden State Killer and we even cover an inmate named “Eyeball”

Timestamps

02:43 Most Dangerous Prisons in the United States

13:37 America's Most Notorious Female Criminals

19:59 Patty Hearst - Daughter Turned Criminal

25:37 Delphine LaLaurie - Torturer of Slaves

32:47 Aileen Wuornos - The Tragic Serial Killer

36:32 Call him Charles Bronson - Violent Prisoner

38:45 El Chapo Guzman - Drug Lord Extraordinaire

38:51 David Berkowitz - The Son of Sam

39:44 Charles Cullen - Angel of Death

40:52 Joseph James D'Angelo - The Golden State Killer

42:21 Jason Barnum - The Infamous Eyeball

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Woody Overton and Jim Chapman tell the story of Connor Wood. A 15 year old convicted of the murder of his parents and his best friend in Ferriday, Louisiana in 2008.

Timestamps

02:27 The Disturbing Phone Call

03:25 The Identity Revealed

04:48 Uncovering the Truth

05:46 Shocking Discoveries

06:47 A Surprising Revelation

10:29 Connor's Confession

15:43 The Failed Plan

16:57 Plan Gone Awry

18:37 Confrontation in the Hallway

20:09 Shocking Conclusion

21:09 Motive Revealed

21:51 Legal Proceedings

30:37 Sentencing Explanation

33:02 Parole Opportunity

36:05 Prisoner Rehabilitation Program

#bloodyangolapodcast #connorwood #crime #truecrime #podcast #louisiana #prison 

We continue to blow your mind with some of the most Brazen prison escape stories of all time!

Timestamps

04:21 Japanese Prisoner Escapes: Yoshi Shiatori

05:23 Prison Break in Fort San Cristobal

06:55 Penal Colonies and Escapes

07:06 Escape-Proof Camp: Colditz Castle

08:52 Escape of French Resistance Fighter: Andre Devigny

15:13 Acre Prison Break: Jewish Underground Groups

19:56 Serial Killer Escape: Monroe Hickson

21:17 Escape from Alcatraz

22:09 Alcatraz Escape Continues

25:05 Monroe Hickson's Fate Revealed

29:40 Escape and Recapture of Thomas Knight

30:44 Escape of Drug Smuggler: Billy Hayes

32:45 Escape from Puente Caritas Penitentiary

34:24 Helicopter Escape from Mountjoy Prison

36:49 Escapes of Serial Killer Carlton Gary

36:56 Carlton Gary's Capture and Execution

38:59 Escape and Capture of James Robert Jones

39:16 Ted Bundy's Christmas Escape

40:39 Prisoner Mentality and Escapes

We explore the tragic events surrounding Hillary Brown's death, due to alleged negligence and over-medication by her husband Dr. Benjamin Brown during procedures he performed on her at his office.

Through a series of disturbing accounts from former patients like Jane Hawkins, Joy Edwards, and Brandy Fitzsimmons, Jim uncovers a pattern of botched surgeries, complications, and negligence that tarnished Dr. Brown's reputation. 

Former employees, including Shannon Gerage and Deborah Brown Guy, reveal troubling details about Dr. Brown's declining behavior, unsafe practices, and lapses in patient care standards at his clinic. Reports of unauthorized procedures, medication mishandling, and unsterile conditions raise serious concerns about the quality of care provided to patients under Dr. Brown's supervision.

The investigation by the Florida Department of Health exposes a myriad of violations and risks posed by Dr. Brown's practices, shedding light on the dire consequences of his actions. From improper sterilization methods to medication misuse, the episode delves into the disturbing events that unfolded within Dr. Brown's clinic, painting a grim picture of the challenges faced by his patients.

The tragic events surrounding Hillary Brown's own procedure, culminating in her untimely death due to negligence and over-medication by Dr. Brown, serve as a stark reminder of the devastating impact of medical malpractice. The podcast unravels the harrowing sequence of events that led to her passing, underscoring the need for accountability and reform within the healthcare system to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

Follow Exposed on Apple Podcast here:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/exposed-scandalous-files-of-the-elite/id1727965835

Legal Note: This Case has not been adjucated and all persons discussed in this podcast are assumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The criminal or civil charges expressed in this podcast are taken from public record and not the direct opinions of the host or producers of this podcast.

Timestamps 

01:43 New Beginnings

14:48 Unraveling Truths

20:51 Exposed Secrets

25:38 State of Investigation

30:29 Unauthorized Brazilian Butt Lift

33:08 Laser Treatment Against Patient's Wishes

36:12 Tragic Death of Hillary Brown

42:26 Arrest Warrant Issued

45:10 Medical License Restriction

46:39 Culpable Negligence Charges

51:02 Concerns Over Medication Handling

54:07 Neglect Leads to Death

58:06 Higher Doses for Victim

1:00:46 Family Statement and Grief 

#exposed #scandal #DrBenBrown #plasticsurgeon #botchedsurgeries #negligence #medicalmalpractice #podcast #crime #florida 

In this episode of the Bloody Angola podcast, Jim Chapman and Woody Overton discuss Jon Barry Simonis, known as the ski mask rapist. Simonis confessed to 81 rapes nationwide and was linked to over 130 attacks in a 12-state crime spree between 1978 and 1981. Simonis's crimes led to the formation of the FBI's profiling task force. The FBI created a detailed profile of Simonis, including his physical description, behavior patterns, and tendencies, which matched his characteristics accurately.

Simonis meticulously planned his crimes, evolving from burglary to sexual assaults and violence over time. He displayed domineering behavior, sought control and power over his victims, and enjoyed inflicting fear and pain. Simonis detailed his criminal activities in an interview with FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood, revealing his methods, motivations, and deviant fantasies. He admitted to escalating violence, seeking high-risk situations, and deriving satisfaction from dominating and terrorizing women.

Simonis's intelligence, manipulative tactics, and strategic approach to his crimes revealed a disturbing insight into the mind of a serial rapist. The episode delves into Simonis's twisted psyche, his predatory behaviors, and his unrepentant attitude towards his heinous acts. Despite Simonis's eventual capture and lifelong imprisonment at bloody Angola prison, his chilling confessions shed light on the dark and sinister world of a prolific sexual predator.

Timestamps

02:36 Inside the Walls of Angola

03:41 The Ski Mask Rapist

06:02 FBI's Profiling Task Force

07:39 The Progression of Crimes

10:03 Creating the FBI Profile

11:45 The Capture of John Simonis

14:03 Comparing to the FBI Profile

15:19 Simonis' Sentencing

19:30 Simonis' Future in Prison

21:13 Interview Techniques

24:18 The Interview with John Simonis

43:31 FBI's Study on Serial Killers

44:55 Expansion to Profiling Sexual Crimes

#podcast #crime #bloodyangola #prison #jonsimonis #skimaskedrapist 

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In this episode of "Bloody Angola," we explore the fascinating history of prison escapes worldwide. 

From narratives of breakouts in the Tower of London to daring escapes during the American Civil War and gripping incidents throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. 

The lengths in which one will go to escape prison will blow your mind and we discuss it all today!

Timestamps

02:18 Prison Escapes

04:21 Escape History

12:11 Criminal to Detective

16:16 Escaping War

18:52 Lifetime Escape

23:56 Daring Adventure

27:46 Unexpected Escape

32:59 Dillinger's Escape

36:10 World War II Escape

38:16 Spanish Civil War Escape

#SerialKillers #tedbundy #johnwaynegacy #profiling #fbi #bloodyangolapodcast #crime #podcast #killers #dateline 

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In this episode of Bloody Angola, we deep dive into the realm of serial killers, exploring their twisted minds and chilling actions. From defining a serial killer to examining the rise in serial killings, we analyze the stats and classifications, both in the US and globally. Uncovering demographics like average age for a first kill, youngest and oldest serial killers, and racial composition, we also discuss the link between childhood abuse and becoming a serial killer.

We explore different types of serial killers - psychotic, missionaries, power seekers - with examples like Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy, and delve into subcategories like lust and gang killers. Drawing distinctions between organized and disorganized serial killers, we shed light on their characteristics and behaviors. Listen as we dive into the dark world and motivations behind these heinous crimes on Bloody Angola.

Timestamps

05:43 Rise of Serial Killers

06:39 Global Serial Killer Stats

08:55 Age and Gender of Serial Killers

09:32 Racial Breakdown

10:13 Issues with Profiling

11:52 IQ and Methods of Killing

12:54 IQs of Well-Known Serial Killers

14:34 Child Abuse Statistics

15:22 Birth Order of Serial Killers

15:53 Profiling Types of Serial Killers

19:08 Types of Missionary Killers

20:43 Lust Killers and Profiling

21:42 Black Widows and Cost Cutters

23:46 Power Seekers

24:20 Not-So-Well-Known Serial Killers

25:12 Henry Landau's Twisted Actions

25:33 Revenge Killers

26:13 Organized vs. Disorganized Killers

29:14 Profiling Serial Killers

#SerialKillers #tedbundy #johnwaynegacy #profiling #fbi #bloodyangolapodcast #crime #podcast #killers #dateline 

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In this episode of "Bloody Angola," we explore the Inspectors General's side of the incidents occurring at Ware Center for Youth from 2019-2022. 

  A New York Times investigation exposing shocking abuse and neglect at the facility, prompted a call for change and spearheaded an investigation of the Juvenile Facility by then Governor John Bell Edwards.

Allegations of rape, physical abuse and an unusually high number of suicides are covered in this episode.

It is important to note that this episode covers the Allegations made by the New York Times and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this podcast.

Timestamps

03:01 Ware Center for Youth Investigation Begins

05:06 Inspector General's Detailed Report

09:04 Reviewing Incidents and Escapes

10:14 Review of Juvenile Suicides

13:12 History of Ware Youth Center

14:08 Critical Incidents at Ware

23:35 DCFS Issues and Facility Improvements

31:13 Conclusion and Podcast Update

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In this episode of "Bloody Angola," we explore the dark history of the Ware Center for Youth and the just released Louisiana Inspector General findings of the conditions within. 

The focus of this initial episode is on a New York Times investigation exposing shocking abuse and neglect at the facility, prompting a call for change that spearheaded an investigation of the Juvenile Facility by then Governor John Bell Edwards.

Allegations of rape, physical abuse and an unusually high number of suicides are covered in this episode.

It is important to note that this episode covers the Allegations made by the New York Times and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this podcast.

Timestamps

07:18 Allegations by the New York Times

12:39 Investigations by the State Inspector General

16:17 The Politics of Ware

19:21 The Beginnings of Ware

22:22 Shakira's Journey to Ware

26:11 Punishments and Abuse at Ware

30:06 Horrific Allegations of Sexual Abuse

39:03 The Sheriff's Response

40:01 Uncovering Indifference

42:44 Surprising Outcomes

44:54 Superficial Oversight

46:09 Inadequate Corrections

47:35 Concealed Interviews

50:56 Rising Dysfunction

52:10 False Assurances

56:12 Regulatory Failures

57:47 Escalating Incidents

1:00:55 Reflecting on Impact

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In this episode of Bloody Angola Podcast, we answer listener questions. Including preferences in covering historic events, favorite podcast stories, and challenges in researching current prison events. We highlight our favorite episodes and upcoming series possibilities.

 We reflect on the impact of covering stories like interviewing a former juvenile lifer and so much more!

#podcast #historicevents #MemorialDay #interviews #bloodyangola

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Timestamps:

04:08 Interviewing Prison Convicts

05:23 Interviewing the Angolite Editor

05:48 Shocking Discoveries in Angola's History

07:16 Would You Spend a Night in an Angola Cell?

08:27 Addressing Misconceptions about Angola

10:02 Impact of Podcast on Victims' Families

11:58 Dealing with Criticism for the Podcast

12:36 Most Impactful Experience from Interview

14:09 Sources and Research for Bloody Angola

15:22 Cold Case Resolutions through Angola Research

17:32 Most Intriguing Discovery in Angola's History

20:07 Plans for Future Episodes and Guests

21:18 Handling Disturbing Stories in the Podcast

25:57 Insight into Convict Lease Program

27:46 Challenges of Researching Prison Infractions

29:05 Recognition for Podcast Award and Fans

30:27 Upcoming Series 

33:59 Favorite Episodes and Standout Stories

35:17 Embracing Goofy Energy in the Podcast

35:38 Observance and Message for Memorial Day

In this episode of Bloody Angola, we explore the distinctions between inmates and convicts in the prison system.

Through the lens of various inmates' lives like James "Black Maddie" Robertson, Parnell Smith, Henry Patterson, and others, we unveil the challenges, growth, and survival strategies within Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola's confines.

 This episode also features intimate interviews with six lifers, offering candid insights on racial dynamics, faith, and personal reflections.

Timestamps:

04:31 "Black Mattie"

07:32 Parnell Smith

12:18 Henry Patterson

15:42 James Dunn

20:13 Mooreese Bickham

25:11 Voices of Angola

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In this episode of "Bloody Angola," we share Joe Williams' daring escape from Angola prison, detailing his evasion for four days fueled by mushroom tea.

Timestamps:

08:17 A Desperate Decision

15:54 Early Life and Upbringing

25:20 Revisiting Clemency

27:14 Recent News: Drug Trafficking Conspiracy

30:06 Smuggling Contraband: Washington Parish Jail

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In this episode we include 'The Deathmen" series and tell you unknown facts regarding Louisiana's executioners including "The hangman of New Orleans" Harry Meyer and Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola executioners Grady Jarrett and Sam Jones.

Timestamps:

02:24 Louisiana's First Legal Execution

04:28 The Hangman of New Orleans

11:42 Transition to the Electric Chair

19:12 The Search for a New Executioner

20:41 Sam Jones: The New Executioner

24:03 Reflection on Historical Execution Methods

#Podcast #prison #crime #bloodyangola

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George Thomas shares his family story of dealing with the tragic death of his brother Steve Thomas at the hands of rap star and No Limit Records recording artist Corey Miller also known as C-Murder, the brother of founder Master P.

George goes into detail with Woody Overton and Jim Chapman on Bloody Angola Podcast regarding the case itself, responds to calls from Kim Kardashian to "Free C-Murder" and the impact the case has had on his entire family.

Timestamps

02:15 Diverse Crime Stories

03:42 Personal Backgrounds and Music Influence

05:07 Upbringing in New Orleans

06:54 Temptation of Street Life

08:51 Military Influence

10:20 Life in Leavenworth

15:39 Shocking News of Brother's Murder

18:16 Involvement of C-Murder

20:48 Brother's Love for Rap Battles

22:13 Fond Memories of Brother

32:46 Concealed Information and Media Control

35:53 Emotions in Courtroom

35:56 Uncovering the Truth

38:32 The Wine Flowers Incident

39:31 The Emotional Testimony

40:09 Dealing with Threats

40:53 Unveiling the Industry

42:06 Facing Public Scrutiny

46:32 Reflections on Remorse

46:56 Remembering the Victim

52:39 Seeking Justice

54:15 Seeking the Truth

55:10 Respecting Intentions

56:30 Unexpected Apologies

59:07 Sharing the Story

59:57 Choosing Redemption

1:00:41 Making Life Choices

1:03:14 Making a Difference

1:03:55 Sharing Personal Journeys

1:05:22 Seeking Peace

1:08:45 Speaking Hard Truths

#kimkardashian #cmurder #nolimitrecords #stevethomas #rap #podcast #masterp #deathrow #bloodyangola

In this episode of Bloody Angola Podcast, we explore the dark history of executioners throughout civilizations, from their origins to their roles under tribal leaders and monarchs. 

Woody and Jim delve into the lives of infamous executioners like Derek and John Crosland, revealing chilling details of their deeds. Various methods of execution over the centuries are discussed, including the guillotine's introduction by Dr. Joseph Guillotine, transforming the landscape and speed of executions.

01:30 Introduction

03:45 Origins of Executioners

12:48 Unique Identification Methods

19:27 Love in the Dungeon

In this episode, we explore the life of Lead Belly, a prominent blues singer originating from the infamous Bloody Angola prison. Spanning the 1930s, we witness Lead Belly's turbulent journey from incarceration to musical stardom, showcasing his exceptional 12-string guitar skills and prestigious performances at locales like Carnegie Hall and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

We delve into the harsh realities of life in Bloody Angola during the Great Depression, shedding light on inmate challenges and the vital role of correctional officers in maintaining order. Additionally, we touch upon the evolving landscape of law enforcement, the complexities detectives encounter, and the significance of adequate funding for police departments. 

Timestamps

0:53 Lead Belly's Story Begins

14:23 Lead Belly's Violent Altercations

15:53 Lead Belly's Murder Conviction

20:58 Lead Belly's Recording Opportunity

21:57Lead Belly's Release and Musical Success

26:14 Lead Belly's Hit Song

30:24 Reflections on Lead Belly's Legacy

36:51 Challenges Faced by Correctional Officers

42:45 Law Enforcement Challenges

44:00 Investigative Prioritization

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Woody and Jim into the history of the electric chair, discussing various executions that took place in the past. William Kemmler's execution in New York in 1890 marked the first time the electric chair was used, aiming to replace the gruesome public hangings of the time. The podcast highlights the mishaps that occurred during electrocutions, such as William Taylor's legs ripping off during the process. It also explores how Louisiana transitioned from hangings to using the electric chair in 1940 and eventually to lethal injection in 1991.

Additionally, we want to acknowledge the support of Lori Johnson, a Louisiana community figure participating in a fundraising event for the Big Buddy Program. If you would like contribute to the cause and show support for Lori, we provide her specific link below.

https://dancingforbigbuddy.com/dancer/lori-johnson/?fbclid=IwAR0aHVAqaX_u_kCMjAn4mw_7E1eY5MXNUifV8mpKfHEdkT2VCmbJaEtHgig

Timestamps

0:03:57 The History of the Electric Chair

0:06:49 Public Executions and the Shift to Electric Chair

0:14:19 Transition to Electric Chair in Louisiana

0:15:31 Introduction of Portable Electric Chair in Louisiana

0:19:44 Increase in Louisiana Executions via Electric Chair

0:28:05 History of Executioners in the US and Bloody Angola

0:29:30 Exploring Alternate Forms of Execution

0:33:11 Reflections on the Justice System and Executions

0:35:22 Shout-Out to Lori Johnson's Fundraiser

0:37:24 Wrapping Up and Rodeo Plans

In this Part 2 we wraps up this series "The Richest Man in Bloody Angola" .

In this episode, we dive into the story of Wilbert Rideau, a man who spent 44 years in prison for a crime he committed in 1961. 

We explore his journey from a young man involved in a tragic incident to his time in prison, including solitary confinement and his reflections on regret and survival. 

We discuss his various trials, legal battles, and ultimately his release after being found guilty of manslaughter in his fourth trial. Wilbert's transformation during his time in prison, his accomplishments as a journalist, filmmaker, and author post-release, and the challenges he faced reintegrating into society are all highlighted. 

We also touch on the perspectives of the victims' families and the complexities of forgiveness and redemption. 

The episode explores the question of rehabilitation and whether Wilbert Rideau, now a successful author and consultant, has truly changed from the person he was in 1961. 

Ultimately, we reflect on Wilbert Rideau's journey and the contrasting feelings of justice, forgiveness, and the ongoing impact of his release.

Timestamps:

0:01:51 Facing Regrets and Solitary Confinement

0:03:37 Hope in Solitude

0:06:30 The Hope of Clemency

0:09:39 Linda LaBranche's Support

0:13:55 Legal Dream Team with Johnny Cochran

0:16:47 Judicial Rollercoaster

0:21:33 Opening Statements of Fourth Trial

0:26:01 Conclusion of Fourth Trial

0:28:44 Rideau's Release and Community Divide

0:37:00 Concerns and Plans Post-Prison

0:39:14 Wilbert Rideau's Biographical Success

0:41:58 The Richest Man in Bloody Angola

In this episode of Bloody Angola, Jim Chapman delves into the story of Wilbert Rideau, a prisoner with a remarkable journey. Rideau achieved significant accomplishments behind bars, winning prestigious journalism awards and making substantial reforms within the Angola prison. Chapman vividly describes Rideau's background, including his upbringing in Louisiana and his involvement in a fateful armed bank robbery in 1961. The detailed account of the robbery and its consequences on Rideau's life are presented, highlighting the tragic events that unfolded that night.

Chapman delves into Rideau's multiple trials, each resulting in a first-degree murder conviction and a death sentence. Despite Rideau's claims of panic and lack of premeditation, the courts repeatedly found him guilty. The emotional impact on the victims, especially Dora McCain, a surviving bank teller, is powerfully portrayed through their statements during Rideau's clemency hearings. The tension between Rideau's rehabilitation and the severity of his crime is a central theme throughout the episode.

The episode captures the complex emotions and moral dilemmas surrounding Rideau's case, including insights from journalists, D.A., and Rideau's mother. Despite his outstanding achievements in journalism and documentary filmmaking while in prison, Rideau faces the ongoing challenge of seeking clemency and ultimate release. The episode ends with a hint of a forthcoming episode, promising a continuation of Rideau's story and the surprising turns it takes. Throughout the episode, Chapman's narrative style immerses the listeners in the compelling and controversial story of Wilbert Rideau and the Angola prison.

Timestamps:

0:03:20 Rideau's Accomplishments and Reforms

0:04:53 Recognition and Fame

0:05:13 Wilbert Rideau's Upbringing

0:06:50 The Bank Robbery

0:11:54 The Bank Robbery - Confrontation

0:14:30 The Bank Robbery - Panic Sets In

0:20:32 Publicity Surrounding Rideau's Case

0:23:16 Legal Battles and Appeals

0:26:47 Interview Reflection on the Crime

0:33:54 Rideau's Notable Achievements

0:38:19 Rideau as Editor of Angola

0:41:04 Rideau's Clemency Hearing

0:45:29 Public Response to Rideau's Clemency

0:47:11 Clemency Decision

0:50:41 Rideau's Success in Prison

In this episode of Bloody Angola podcast, we delve into the chilling world of serial killers and the intricate process of catching them. Drawing from the case of Derek Todd Lee, a notorious serial killer in the Baton Rouge area of Louisiana, we discuss how the FBI profiling of serial killers has evolved over the years. We highlight the challenges law enforcement faced in accurately profiling Derek Todd Lee, who defied the initial FBI profile by being a person of color. The episode delves into the power of DNA evidence in catching serial killers, using examples like Brian Koberger's case, where familial DNA played a crucial role in identification.

In this episode of Bloody Angola, the podcast we delve into the life story of Wayne Felde, a troubled individual who was born in 1949 and grew up in a family with a history of military service.

Wayne's father was abusive and struggled with alcoholism, which deeply impacted Wayne's upbringing. Wayne enlisted in the Army during the Vietnam War, hoping to become a war hero, but the harsh reality of the war quickly changed his perspective on conflict. He endured traumatic experiences in Vietnam, including exposure to Agent Orange, which had long-lasting detrimental effects on his health.

After returning from Vietnam, Wayne struggled with PTSD and alcoholism, leading to a series of tumultuous events in his life. Tragically, Wayne ended up in a confrontation where he unintentionally killed a friend due to a PTSD-induced episode. Subsequently, Wayne was involved in a fatal incident with a police officer, resulting in his arrest and imprisonment. Despite attempts to take his own life and a tumultuous legal battle, Wayne was sentenced to death and ultimately executed in the electric chair at Louisiana State Penitentiary on March 15, 1988, just days before his 39th birthday.

The podcast reflects on Wayne's complex life, the impact of war trauma on his actions, and the justice system's final verdict on his fate. The story highlights the complexities of PTSD, accountability for one's actions, and the tragic end that Wayne faced. Through detailed storytelling and historical context, Bloody Angola provides a deep dive into the life of Wayne Felde and his ultimate demise in the electric chair at the notorious prison.

Timestamps:

0:02:16 ]: Wayne Felde's Childhood

0:05:58 ]: Wayne's Enlistment in Vietnam

0:10:03 ]: Impact of Agent Orange

0:14:02 ]: Wayne's Return to the U.S.

0:15:24 ]: Wayne's Struggles after Vietnam

0:22:31 ]: Wayne's Murder Trial

0:30:09 ]: Wayne's Escape

0:34:56 ]: Wayne's Time on Death Row

0:36:37 ]: Wayne's Execution

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In this episode, we explore the history and future of the Louisiana's Correctional Institute for Women (LCIW). We discuss the challenges faced by women at LCIW, including limited access to education and overcrowding. We also highlight the appointment of Kristen Thomas as the second-ever female warden and the construction of a new facility with improved amenities.

#BloodyAngolaPodcast #LadyConvicts #LCIW #Podcast

Timestamps

0:02:20 Women's fate after leaving Angola: LCIW and its history

0:04:04 Construction of St. Gabriel, a female-only prison near Baton Rouge

0:04:31 Early years of LCIW: Housing, Orientation, and Behavioral Assessments

0:06:37 Work release program and healthcare at LCIW

0:14:58 Female warden appointed to increase diversity in leadership

0:19:18 Groundbreaking for new LCIW facility in September 2022

0:27:14 Success Stories: Horticulture, Upholstery, and Welding Classes

0:29:13 Re-entry Programs and Support for Incarcerated Women

0:36:43 Inside Knowledge of Prison Life and Security Measures

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In this episode of the Bloody Angola podcast, we explore the Louisiana State Penitentiary Execution Manual. We discuss the procedures and requirements for executions, the role of witnesses, and the importance of professionalism. We also touch on the legal process and the rarity of exoneration.

Timestamps

0:03:20 Chain of Command and Roles in the Execution Process

0:05:48 Incarceration and Transport of Death Row Offenders

0:07:02 Communications and Media Regulations

0:09:11 Visits, Visits with Family, and Special Visits

0:15:47 Preparation and Security Measures for Executions

0:18:13 Witness Selection and Pool Reporters

0:23:25 Execution Process and Post-Execution Procedures

0:28:34 Execution process and the role of the coroner

0:30:13 Paperwork involved in the execution process

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A 16-year-old brutally murders an 8-year-old while biking in Saint Francisville, Louisiana. Trevor Reese confesses which leads to a sentence in Bloody Angola for life without parole. We discuss the horrific crime, the legal proceedings, impact statements in this episode of Bloody Angola Podcast.

Timestamps

0:04:24 Background on Clinton and St. Francisville

0:12:44 A typical summer day in Louisiana

0:14:32 Tragic encounter with Trevor Reese

0:16:36 Monique's Desperate Attempt to Save Jack

0:18:10 Trevor Confesses to the Carpenter

0:18:34 Trevor's Brutal Crime

0:20:11 District Judge rules Trevor eligible for prosecution as an adult

0:22:54 Arraignment: Not guilty by reason of insanity plea entered

0:23:42 The shocking murder and the grief-stricken parents

0:26:06 Trial dates set and the plea deal confusion

0:28:14 Judge Carmichael questions Trevor's plea and explains the process

0:30:49 Trevor's monstrous nature and absence of remorse examined

0:32:15 Dr. Scott speaks about Monique's trauma and PTSD

0:34:04 Monique's realization and the horrifying details of Jackson's injuries

0:35:56 Jack's grandfather's heart-wrenching victim impact statement

0:36:32 Devastation and Hatred: The Scar You Left Behind

0:37:39 Jack's Father Pleads for Maximum Sentence

0:40:04 Trevor's Admission of Guilt and Sentencing

0:42:31 The complexity of victims on both sides

0:43:04 A Father's Responsibility and the Change in Law

Thank you to Cyndi Overton for her assistance in researching this case.

In todays episode we discuss the Louisiana Supreme Court decision called Montgomery v. Louisiana, which involved Henry Montgomery, the longest-serving convict in Angola Prison's history. 

Henry was released in 2021 after spending 57 years behind bars. We start with the events of November 13th, 1963, when Officer Hurt encountered Henry at a park which led to the murder of the officer. The community goes into lockdown, and Montgomery is eventually found, confesses to the shooting, and is convicted of first-degree murder. 

Despite initially receiving a death sentence, he is later granted a new trial, resulting in a life sentence. The 2010 case Graham v. Florida, in which the Supreme Court deemed juvenile life without parole sentences unconstitutional for crimes other than murder was the start of some life changing Supreme Court rulings for juvenile offenders. 

Miller v. Alabama followed and was used as a precedent to have Henry Montgomery's case reviewed by the Supreme Court, resulting in his life without parole sentence being thrown out. 

Known as Montgomery vs Louisiana this ruling became one of the most historic rulings in history as it relates to juvenile lifer's.

You are going to want to tune into this one! It's FIRE!

0:07:17 Officer Charles Hurt and Henry Montgomery's Fateful Encounter

0:11:27 Confrontation Turns Dangerous with a Pistol Drawn

0:15:18 Montgomery's Trial and Sentencing

0:22:14 Montgomery's Eligibility for Parole

0:28:02 Tough Decision: Denying Parole

0:33:12 Henry Montgomery's Release and Reflections on Freedom

0:42:19 A Police Officer's Perspective and the Verdict

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This emergency drop is in response to information received regarding the most recent drop of Bloody Angola titled "The Changing of the Guard".

For the article referenced in the "Changing of the Guard" episode, see the attached link below.

https://www.fox8live.com/2023/12/21/governor-edwards-pardons-57-inmates-october-through-december/

***We are retracting the portion of this podcast referencing that all of these inmates received a full pardon, we like most of the general public received incomplete information. While all received "a" pardon", most received clemency meaning they got a reduction in sentence, However 5 inmates in particular did receive a full pardon. The episode following this episode contains the details of this retraction.***

In this episode of Bloody Angola, we explore the recent transition of power with the election of Governor Jeff Landry as it relates to crime and the recent pardons of outgoing Louisiana Governor John Bell Edwards.. 

Previous governor, John Bel Edwards, is known for his leniency in crime and numerous acts of clemency. We delve into the governor's authority to grant sentence commutation, the role of the pardon board in reviewing applications, and the different types of clemency that exist.

We focus on the actions of John Bel Edwards, who commuted the sentences of many prisoners and granted several inmates full pardons.

The current governor, Jeff Landry, known for his tough stance on crime, Landry stands firm on his commitment to restoring law and order.

0:02:07 Changing of the Guard: New Governor, New Policies

0:05:36 Clemency Applications and Eligibility Requirements

0:14:09 John Bel Edwards' High Rate of Sentence Commutations

0:16:03 Pardons explained

0:17:12 Pardons of Convicted Individuals.

0:19:07 Continuation of List: Pardons.

0:21:03 Additional Pardons for Murder and Other Crimes

0:28:29 Jeff Landry's Tough Stance on Crime

0:30:26 Jeff Landry's Anti-Crime Ads as Governor Candidate

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In this episode of Bloody Angola, Woody and Jim share the firsthand recollections of the harsh and violent environment at the prison as told by Clifford Hampton. Hampton sheds light on the meager funding, strict work routines, and rampant violence in the mid to late sixties in Camp H. Hampton vividly describes the physical demands of farm labor and the presence of sexual activities.

#bloodyangola #cliffordhampton #prison #camph #podcast #crime #truecrime

0:01:33 Introduction to Bloody Angola podcast

0:03:47 The Story of Camp H and Inmate Clifford Hampton

0:11:13 Change of Plans and Placement in B Block

0:20:29 Daily Routine on the Farm

0:23:02 Dorm Life and Lack of Security

0:30:49 Life in Camp H Prison

0:34:51 Jeff Landry's commitment to the letter of the law

0:36:23 Thanking Patreon members and encouraging sharing of the podcast

0:38:32 Imprisoned and Bound: Life Behind Bars

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In this episode of Bloody Angola Podcast, Woody and Jim bring you some new details and insight into the C-Murder case and a revamped edition of our top downloaded episode of 2023!

In this episode of Bloody Angola: A Podcast by Woody Overton and Jim Chapman Kelly Jennings if Unspeakable: A True Crime Podcast by Kelly Jennings joins Woody and Jim and shares some stories about her time in Angola.

This episode has never been released to the general public and prior to today only available to patreon members but due to the extreme popularity of our patreon we decided to make it available to everyone.

Kelly's podcast can be found wherever you listen or on her website at:

www.unspeakablethepodcast.com

Our patreon and Apple subscribers get Bonus episodes not released to the public at least once per month so if you enjoy this episode, we would love to have your support on Patreon! 

In this episode of Bloody Angola: A Podcast by Woody Overton and Jim Chapman the guys tell give you current updates on the teens being housed at Angola as well as female inmate being recently moved to the facility.

#bloodyangolapodcast #revolvingdoor #Podcast #Louisianastatepenitentiary #womeninprison #teensatangola

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In this episode of Bloody Angola: A Podcast by Woody Overton and Jim Chapman, they discuss and give you the full details regarding the history of Women incarcerated at Louisiana State Penitentiary before it was known as Bloody Angola and was simply known as "The Walls". 

This episode though hard to hear is an important part of our past that should we forget, we would be doomed to repeat.

#bloodyangolapodcast #convictleasing #Podcast #Louisianastatepenitentiary #womeninprison #thewalls

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In this episode of Bloody Angola: A Podcast by Woody Overton and Jim Chapman, they tell you the story of one of the most notorious Hate Crime serial killers in history. 

Kenneth Gleason made headlines in 2017 when he was charged with the execution style murders of 2 black men in Baton Rouge, LA in which a massive manhunt lead to his arrest, his eventual sentence to life inside Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, his eventual death at Angola, and the insane precident that threatened to wipe his record clean before the Louisiana State Supreme Court intervened.

#bloodyangolapodcast #kennethgleason #murder #Podcast #Louisianastatepenitentiary #jefflandry #hatecrime

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In this episode of Bloody Angola: A Podcast by Woody Overton and Jim Chapman, they wrap up the case of the murder of Audra Bland. In 2007 William Lee Jr. was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison at Louisiana State Penitentiary. A new law passed in 2021 made way for a reduction in his sentence, but that was just the start of a winding roller coaster ride that eventually led to the Louisiana State Supreme Court and a landmark decision pushed by Governor Elect and Attorney General Jeff Landry.

Christine Tillman joins them in this Woody Overton.

(part 3 of a 3 part series)

#bloodyangolapodcast #Thelakehousemurder #williamleejr #Podcast #Louisianastatepenitentiary #jefflandry #louisianaact104

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In this PART 2 episode of Bloody Angola: A Podcast by Woody Overton and Jim Chapman, woody and Jim continue to bring you into the case of the murder of Audra Bland. In 2007 William Lee Jr. was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison at Louisiana State Penitentiary. A new law passed in 2021 made way for a reduction in his sentence, but that was just the start of a winding roller coaster ride that eventually led to the Louisiana State Supreme Court and a landmark decision pushed by Governor Elect and Attorney General Jeff Landry.

(part 2 of a 3 part series)

#bloodyangolapodcast #Thelakehousemurder #williamleejr #Podcast #Louisianastatepenitentiary #jefflandry #louisianaact104

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In this episode of Bloody Angola: A Podcast by Woody Overton and Jim Chapman, they bring you into the case of the murder of Audra Bland. In 2007 William Lee Jr. was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison at Louisiana State Penitentiary. A new law passed in 2021 made way for a reduction in his sentence, but that was just the start of a winding roller coaster ride that eventually led to the Louisiana State Supreme Court and a landmark decision pushed by Governor Elect and Attorney General Jeff Landry.

(part 1 of a 3 part series)

#bloodyangolapodcast #Thelakehousemurder #williamleejr #Podcast #Louisianastatepenitentiary #jefflandry #louisianaact104

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In today's podcast episode of Bloody Angola we tell you 3 short stories of Life at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola including the story of Warden John Whitley who started his professional life and ended it at Angola, the story of Billy Blake Johnson who lost his life attempting to escape Angola, and the Prison View Golf Course which makes "Life" better for the Correctional Officers at Angola.

#bloodyangolapodcast #LifemeansLife #JohnWhitley #Podcast #Louisianastatepenitentiary

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TRANSCRIPT

BLOODY ANGOLA PODCAST: LIFE MEANS LIFE

Jim: Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Bloody Angola, a podcast, 142 years in the making the complete story of America's bloodiest prison. And I'm Jim Chapman. Woody Overton could not join us today. We're working on some big, big stuff. And Woody's on assignment, that's all I can say. But there's going to be some really big stuff coming around the bend for everybody, so look forward to that. And I thought today, it would be fun to tell you some of the stories of Angola that you may not be familiar with, that aren't necessarily stories that can fill up, like, a whole hour of content, but at the same time, need to be told and are really good stories. So I wanted to share those with you, and we're going to jump right into it. 

The first story I'm going to tell you about is actually about a former warden of Angola by the name of John Whitley. And John Whitley was actually the warden of Angola from 1990 until 1995. Look, John Whitley, the prison warden, was probably as prototypical as you can get to a prison warden when you would think of one. Kind of like the opposite of Burl Cain. Burl Cain was someone that, when you saw him, you wouldn't think he was the warden for the largest maximum-security prison in America. Same thing with John Whitley, but on the total opposite end, he is exactly what you would picture. He was a cowboy character. Actually, wore a cowboy hat and dressed with button up shirt. The picture I'm actually looking at now, he has a vest. It's almost like a leather vest over that button up shirt, and wears glasses, mustache, just looks like someone you would picture as a warden. And had a short but storied history at Angola relative to being a warden. Although he started off at the very bottom, and we're going to tell you all about that. 

John Whitley attended Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana, which is actually probably about an hour and 20 minutes from Angola. From where we record, right outside of Baton Rouge, it's actually about a half hour from us. It is I guess the second largest college in Louisiana outside of Louisiana State University. Good college. Whitley attended that college. He was actually born in Hammond, Louisiana as well. So he went to school same place he was born in. Now, after he left college, he ended up graduating in 1968. He enlisted in the United States Army. That's important. That was an important step in his life, because that was kind of in the heyday of Vietnam. People weren't necessarily just enlisting into the army. They were getting drafted. So it shows you John Whitley's courage and his commitment to his country that he would enlist in the United States Army. He actually served during the Vietnam War and was discharged in 1970. 

Now, shortly after that, he started his career in corrections. So Whitley started that career at Angola in 1970, and he rose pretty much through those ranks quickly. He eventually became a deputy warden, and then he was promoted to warden of another Louisiana prison. So he was deputy warden at Angola. I know you've heard about us talk about Hunt Correctional Center, which is a prison, it's kind of like the baby brother to Angola, just a smaller, not so violent a prison as Angola. They needed a warden, and he actually got promoted to the warden of Hunt Correctional. From there, he left the state, and he ran a private prison in Texas. I know you've heard us talk about that with the private prisons are actually-- they're not ran by state employees. They're ran privately, and the state pays them for that service, and Texas has several of those, and he ran one of those private prisons in Texas. 

Now, in 1990, Louisiana was like, “Man, what's going on here? This guy is in Texas, and he's got all this experience. He's a Louisiana guy, and we need him at Angola.” This was 1990, and Angola was in just a mess at that point, and they needed someone to restore order there, basically. At the time that they were seeking out John Whitley, they were having frequent, very frequent stabbings, suicides. They were dealing with a lot of escapes. And a US federal judge had actually declared, what's known as, a state of emergency at the prison in response to an ACLU lawsuit against the state specifically for the horrendous conditions at Angola. So it was a situation where they needed someone, not only with some Louisiana ties that really cared, but they also needed someone that had the experience to handle such a prison. John Whitley started there, rose all the way up to deputy warden. That was back since 1970. He was the perfect candidate for that. And so he took that job. 

Within two years, Whitley had pretty much stemmed all of that violence. He established incentives for good behavior, which is something they did not have in Angola prior to his arrival there as warden. Some of those incentives for good behavior, he'd allow the inmates to have extra visits. He would increase the educational opportunities for the inmates. If you were good, maybe you had the opportunity to learn a trade that you had to have good behavior in order to get to learn, like maybe welding or something. I mean, you don't want someone that's causing a bunch of trouble in Angola getting a halt to a welding machine. So those things, he figured out-- He figured out the important thing-- When you're running a prison, and that is you've got to have incentives for the inmates. If there's no incentive for good behavior, they're not going to be good. That's just the bottom line. 

So that was something he really stemmed, education wise for them. Also, literacy tutoring, computer and paralegal courses. He started bringing those into the prison not quite at the level that Warden Cain did later on, but the infancy of that is a credit to John Whitley and the things that he did. So he also enabled some trustworthy and deserving inmates to travel outside of the prison as part of some athletic teams and inmate bands that provided entertainment for-- They would entertain churches, they would entertain nursing homes and other charitable organizations throughout the area. John Whitley was kind of the guy who came up with the idea to start offering these things as a deterrent, if you will, against violence. He knew that these programs were the way to start. 

So he also launched an outreach program to all the criminal justice programs in the state of Louisiana. So he would basically send prison officials and inmates, and they would go into these college classrooms, and they would help, both the students and the faculty better understand the realities of not only managing a prison, but life in prison as an inmate. Those things weren't done, at least with Angola inmates, before John Whitley became warden. 

Now, one thing that's very important in prison, but is not commonly practiced, I guess you could say, is having an open-door policy with the media. Take it from me, y'all know that I love to research. It's not easy at all to find information about Angola, or probably most of your state prisons, and that is, they keep things that go on inside that prison, and you got to really dig to find information on stuff like that. But he was committed to, what I would call, an open-door policy with the media, and even The Angolite, which-- We've done several episodes about The Angolite and read many, many articles on that. 

Well, The Angolite, the biggest concern with that magazine as time went on, and I noticed this as I was reading it was, it got a little farther and farther away from what was actually happening. What they were printing was the truth. But where in the 40s and 50s, when The Angolite was produced, they were talking about all these escapes and stabbings and all the things that happened inside that prison. When it got around to the 80s and 90s, it was a lot softer. There were things going on, but they weren't allowing The Angolite publishers or editors, rather, to print that [chuckles] or talk about it. And so didn't necessarily mean it wasn't going on. It's just the editors weren't putting it in there. But he wanted to have a welcoming nature with the media and try to cooperate with them rather.

And so one of the things that he allowed The Angolite to do was to produce material for radio and television journalism inside the prison, which-- Believe it or not, they have their own radio station there. They have a lot of film equipment there. They can actually film documentaries and stuff. The prisoners actually learn how to do this, and are as good as-- They got some producers in Angola that are as good or better than I am at doing that. Some of them probably better, and just amazing people out inside that prison that produced these things. But he didn't want them censored. The claim is that John Whitley did not censor the radio shows and stuff that were coming out of Angola, which is very interesting. 

So he's continuing on and he's starting all these programs. Shortly after his first year at Angola as a warden, it was actually July 1991, some inmate welders were ordered by the corrections department to build a “hospital examining table.” So they soon learned that it was a gurney to enable executions by lethal injection. Now, this took place hours after an execution by electric chair had taken place. One of the welders actually had a brother who had been executed at the prison. And learning of these plans that this “hospital examining table” was actually going to be the table they were going to use for lethal injection, he didn't like that too much. So of course, as we told you, inmates like to gossip, inmates like to talk, and so he goes around and he starts firing up inmates and telling them of this plan. They're not making us build a hospital examining table, they're wanting us to build the table for the lethal injections. He's riling up these inmates, and they're bucking up. So they decide to stage a work strike. This is hundreds of fellow inmates. 

Now, when Whitley learned this was happening, what does he do? He locks up all the guys that are striking. He says, “Okay, y'all-- Are all getting locked up in solitary.” He brings in the SWAT teams and he tells them to get prepared for that strike. He also told the media that deceiving the inmate workers was wrong and the work order should have never been issued. He understood that it put the inmates in a bad position and he wasn't going to subject them to building the lethal injection gurney. 

When the inmates heard that, they basically ended that strike. There was no violence. And honestly, Whitley gained a lot of respect, not only with the inmate population, but also with his security force over coming out and saying, “Hey, this was a bad call and a major lack of judgment.” And look, regardless of what you may think about inmates inside of Angola, I agree that it's not right to ask inmates to build the lethal injection table for death row. I can see why they'd get pissed off about something like that. And he did too, and he admitted to that that was a little bit too much to ask. 

The Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, let's talk about them for a second. They're the premier paper I guess in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and are no fans of Angola, to say the least, especially with Burl Cain, The Baton Rouge Morning Advocate and Burl Cain have a long history of hatred, to say the least. So they're a very conservative paper. Even they commended him in two editorials for admitting that the prison had screwed up and made a mistake by asking the convicts to build that table. They went as far to say that was a refreshing thing to have a warden actually come out and admit that mistake. He was nationally even accredited for that with national magazines such as Time magazine, which had a glowing article that they put out on John Whitley. So I'm going to go ahead. I want to read you that article because this is really going to paint a picture of who he was, and then I've got another story I'm going to tell you about the prison view golf course. There's actually a golf course in Angola that we're going to talk about, but I'm going to go ahead and read you this article by Time magazine that was put out Monday, December 14th, 1992, and the headline says, Bringing Decency Into Hell: JOHN WHITLEY. 

So it says, When John Whitley wanders into the courtyard of Camp H, he's not just any visitor. He is the warden. The Man. Yet his presence stirs hardly a ripple. He inspects a flower bed, points to some asbestos dangling from a pipe. Mostly he just loiters, signaling that he is open for business. Slowly, as if they have all the time in the world, which, of course, many of them do, half a dozen inmates drift his way. One complains about missing laundry another asks that recreational time be extended. All are polite, but none display the eagerness of someone anxious to please. 

Whitley, 48, listens intently, asking occasional questions in a gravelly twang. Nothing in his courteous demeanor suggests, “I am the keeper, you are the kept. You understand that even if it's a small problem, it may be the biggest problem they have,” he says later. You don't just blow anyone off. Conditions were not always so relaxed and congenial at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. Just three years ago, the main prison and five outcamps at the 18,000-acre facility were rocking with murders, suicides and escape attempts. The mood was so tense that a federal judge declared a state of emergency, which included a state investigation and tightened federal oversight. Discontent among the 5,186 inmates could be summed up in a word, hopelessness. Prisoners, the vast majority of them lifers in a state where a life term means life, blamed their despair on tough parole laws. At risk was a reprise of the chaos that in the early 70s earned Angola the dubious distinction of being the nation's bloodiest prison. 

Enter John Whitley, a quiet-spoken Louisiana native with a lazy smile, whose cowboy hats and elephant-hide boots, hey, y’all, I like that, make more of an impression than his low-key manner. In just 32 months, he has turned Angola around, relying on little more than his sense of decency and fairness. The number of stabbings, hangings, and escape attempts has dropped dramatically. The malfeasance has lifted. Security officers say that Whitley has improved communications between the prisoners and the 1,500 member staff. Inmates credit Whitley with providing new educational and recreational programs. Most important, inmates feel they have an advocate in Whitley at a time when the courts and the Louisiana legislature seem bent on locking up felons. The way inmates and security guards tell it, “Whitley sounds like the hero of a movie. He is open-minded, impartial, considerate.” “Warden's pretty cool people,” says Curtis Kyles, one of 35 inmates on death row. "He sees people as individuals, not throwaways." 

To illustrate their point, prisoners start with an incident that occurred on July 22nd, 1991. At 12:10 on that date, Whitley presided over Louisiana's final execution by electric chair. Later the same day, orders reached the prison metal shop to construct the gurney that would henceforth be used for lethal injections. Two inmate welders balked, then 375 convicts joined their work buck. Confronted by every warden's worst nightmare, a prisoner rebellion. Whitley did the unthinkable, he backed down. He publicly called the idea a bad one and said a private contractor would build the table instead. "He admitted he was wrong," says lifer Patrick DeVille. "Wardens just don't do that." So, y’all can see he was earning their respect there.

Initially, some prisoners interpreted Whitley's reversal as a sign of weakness. But many changed their mind. A few months later, after the state legislature imposed a strict October 1991 deadline for inmates to challenge their convictions, Whitley, alone of Louisiana's 12 prison wardens, helped inmates beat the cutoff. He authorized the prison printshop to run off 5,000 appeal applications. He instructed the prison radio station to hold a question-and-answer program, brought in a lawyer to field questions, then ordered all inmates to listen. He also made sure that illiterate inmates which is about 70% of Angola’s population got help filling out the forms. 

So you can see there that he was building up this rapport with the inmates. And then the article goes on later. Whitley describes himself as very conservative on crime. He favors the death penalty and believes executions would serve as a deterrent if they were carried out more swiftly. He has presided over two executions. After each, he said, he went home and fell into a deep, undisturbed sleep. Whitley also says that his number one concern is security and that he has no-- his number one concern is security rather and that he has no moral problem locking up an inmate for life as long as citizens understand that it'll cost them. As a starry-eyed corrections rookie, Whitley admits, "I was going to save them all." 22 years later, he thinks it's a complete farce to speak of rehabilitating inmates. They must do that for themselves. "All we can do," he said, "is provide the opportunity. Does he believe a person can really change? Sure, I've seen it. They've aged. They've matured. They've shown they can handle their emotions." Would he give some of them a second chance? "Sure," he said. Coaxed, the warden allows that there are a couple hundred he could set free tomorrow and he would have no reservations.

Now some of those men were inmates back in 1970 when Whitley first started out at Angola as a classification officer. Armed with sociology and zoology degrees from Southeastern Louisiana University, he tried and failed to secure an appointment to the state police. Disappointed, he settled for a corrections job. After nine years at Angola, he moved to Louisiana's Hunt Correctional Center, where in 1983 he became The Man. "I never really had a desire to be a warden," he says. "I just kept being promoted up." Sybil, his wife of 17 years counters that She says, “He says he's not ambitious, but I say he is." 

After retiring from the civil service in 1989, he became warden of a privately run prison in Texas. When the call came from Louisiana asking him to return, Whitley's first reaction was to laugh. "I couldn't see coming back to a prison of the size and the problems of Angola.". He set what he believed to be an unreasonably high salary. Get this y’all, $70,000. Then found the joke was on him when his price was met. These days, Whitley's stiffest challenge is finding time to himself. The 28 square mile domain over which he reigns is as demanding as any small town. There are fire and sanitation departments, a civilian population of 300, which is mostly security staff and their families. A cemetery, a community, swimming pool and even a post office with its own zip code. 

Although Whitley and his wife and seven-year-old daughter, Susan, live in grand isolation in a spacious brick house atop a hill overlooking Angola, the sense of privacy is just an illusory. He can't even see Susan's swim meet without someone saying, “Hey, boss, I've got a problem. So when you live on Angola, you not only high access to the prisoners that are constantly complaining but you're employees that are constantly complaining.” That was one thing about Burl Cain when he was at Angola. If you remember, he didn’t live on the B-Line. He actually kept his house, which was at Dixon Correctional Center. I would imagine some of that might have been he foresaw these issues. Now the article goes on, it says, when Whitley took the wardenship, he signed on for three years. Extending his stay, he says, it would depend on how much he feels he can accomplish. It is clear he wants more. More medical, culinary and maintenance staff, a bigger hospital, more classroom space like every other warden in America though he runs up against budget limitations. 

Let’s talk about that second. That is the biggest issue with any state prison. Nobody, including myself, wants to pay for prisoners. And wardens from every prison in America will tell you they never have enough money. It makes sense in a way. I mean, “I don't want to pay extra tax dollars to lock someone up. I know it needs to be done, but I don't like to have to pay for that." So some of these programs are very expensive. When you have to rehab a prison, it's very expensive. And although I know there's a need there, nobody likes to pay for it. So these state prisons always have budget issues. “It was short sighted,” he said. What you send out of prisons is going to reflect what you had in them, if that includes the warden, Angola’s graduates are now just a little more likely to come out to fair, decent, straight up people just like The Man[?].

That was written by Time magazine, another magazine that you wouldn't expect necessarily to be very complimentary of wardens. But in this case, it was. That should tell you a lot more about who John Whitley was. Just a reminder there. He served right before Burl Cain. So Burl Cain came in and the foundation was built. It wasn't what Burl Cain brought it to while he was there, we all know, and we did a three-part series, so I'm not going to harp on this too much. It wasn't what Burl Cain did after he got there, but it laid the foundation for that. Whitley did a good job of that. So there's a little bit about John Whitley. We're going to try to bring you more information on some of these I guess Angola's wardens from the past every now and then, so you can hear that. 

Now, I made mention of telling you a little bit about the golf course at Angola. It may surprise some of you that they actually have one. They do. It was actually built by the prisoners at Angola. It's located on the grounds at Louisiana State Penitentiary, and it's operated by the Louisiana State Penitentiary Employee Recreation Committee. It offers players a challenging round of golf. It's a nine-hole facility. Meaning, most of your golf courses are 18 holes. This is a 9-hole facility, so you would basically play those nine holes twice to get a full round of golf in. It's a really beautiful golf course. The number one tee box is actually elevated 75 yards above the ground. It's set in the Tunica Hills. The entire course, it's a par 72 course. It measures around 6,000 yards in total. There's 37 sand bunkers, and there are some water hazards there as well. It features a restaurant serves po-boys fried seafood, hot dogs, cold drinks, and other assorted snacks. 

Now, the course was designed by the prison dentist, which is a guy by the name of Dr. John Ory. It's O-R-Y, y'all, so we'll call him Dr. John. The course was built with prison labor and funds generated from the Angola Annual Prison Radio. No public funds were spent to build that course. It is open to the public, so you can actually go play that course. The course opened for play in 2004. Now, if you're interested in playing the course, you have to present valid state ID, and play may be suspended anytime due to the institutional needs or at the warden's discretion. So if someone escapes, they're going to say, “Yeah, you got to get off the golf course.” Convicted felons and individuals listed on any inmate visiting list are not allowed access. And of course, you can't bring firearms, drugs, alcohol, or contraband items to that golf course either. But a really beautiful golf course. I'll try to put some pictures of it on the Facebook page and maybe some special pictures on the Patreon page. 

So I'm going to read you another good article here quickly. This was put out by the New York Times in 2004 when that golf course was built. It's pretty interesting because they actually talk with some inmates who help build that course. And it says, Golf Course Shaped By Prisoners' Hands. Golfers who step onto the new 9-hole course here encounter a rarity. The green felt fairways of Bermuda grass were graded and seeded by hand. The sand pits were actually dug by workers using shovels, not heavy equipment. More striking is the view. The first tee, a perch carved from the Tunica Hills near the Mississippi River, and provides a survey of all 18,000 acres of the prison. And that explains the hard labor. Prisoners built the course, which is on penitentiary property and open to the public. Though they cannot play, a few inmates have earned the privilege of tending the greens for 20 cents an hour at what is officially the Louisiana State Penitentiary but better known as Angola, which is 45 miles northwest of Baton Rouge. 

Lester Wright, who is serving a life sentence says, “Watching golfers on the course as he rides his mower is a bittersweet pleasure. 'When I look at them, I look at all the hard work that we done trying to fix this thing for them.” It's like, “Man, we did all this here and look at them dudes out there playing. Sometimes I do want to play.'' The course, called Prison View, was conceived by the prison's warden, Burl Cain, a man who views incarceration with a sense of humor. Visitors to the prison can buy T-shirts that say ''Angola: A Gated Community,'' along with Guts and Glory hot sauce, named for the prison's famous rodeo, at which inmates play chicken with angry bulls. At the golf course, the tees are marked with handcuffs. I do like that, nice little touch. 

Warden Cain brushes off the suggestion that some prisoners might dislike the markers. ''No, they think that's cool,'' he said. ''They wear striped shirts in the rodeo. They like it.'' But Mr. Wright, 49, said he was not amused. ''What are they doing with handcuffs out here?'' he says. ''Everybody knows it's a prison. It really offended me when I first seen it. After that, I just passed by and mowed the grass, it don't matter.'' Well, Mr. Wright, you're in prison, brother. Mr. Wright added, ''They're going to do what they want, we have to accept it, so that's all it is. It's all in trying to stay at peace with them and yourself.'' 

The course was built primarily for the use of prison employees, many of whom live on the grounds in a little settlement called B-Line. The course lies near Camp J, the 'behavior modification unit. Y’all, Camp J was the-- we did a whole episode on Camp J and how horrible-- how bad the reputation for Camp J was. It's no longer open. From the seventh hole, it is possible to wave to inmates on the Camp J basketball court, where they are permitted to spend three hours a week. 

On a sunny Sunday, the course attracted a handful of players, including a pecan sheller, an oil executive, and a telephone network manager, from nearby towns. Players said the charms of the course, its doglegs, short drives, and a lake with an island went beyond novelty. ''I've played a lot of courses, and I've paid more money to play a lot worse,'' said Joseph Lamartiniere, a corrections colonel at the prison, as his 3-year-old son, Peyton, hit a 15-foot drive. The transformation of the property from bull pasture to golf course took two years. Warden Cain said, it was the type of job that gave inmates a sense of accomplishment and taught them useful skills like groundskeeping and horticulture. 

Richard Mikkelson, a 47-year-old prisoner from Alexandria, Louisiana, was on the work crew and he said, it is indeed proud sight to see. ''I don't know how they build these things out here on the streets, but we did it with shovels and rakes and hoes.'' James F. Moore, the Director of Construction Education for the United States Golf Association said, he had a hard time envisioning a course built without modern equipment like mechanized levelers, seeders and powered trenching equipment. ''My guess is it's the only golf course built this way in at least the last 50 years. I'd have to see it to believe it.'' 

Mr. Mikkelson, who like most of the prisoners is serving a life sentence said, if he ever gets out of Angola, which would require an act of clemency, he would know exactly where to go for networking opportunities. ''A golf course is a place to meet people,'' he said. ''I've been told the main two places you go is to a golf course and church. That’s where you can get certain types.” Dr. Ory, who designed the course said, ''We want to go from a fun place to play golf to where people come back and say, that's a first-class deal. The fairways he said are planted with 419 Bermuda, as good as any country club. The whole course was built for $80,000, paid for by the employees' recreation fund and donations. A typical course costs $4 million to $7 million. And course fees are low. A membership is $200 a year, and the greens fee and cart are $20.” 

Dr. Ory said, “The hope is for the course to pay for itself, with some money to buy better equipment. The inmates have also learned a gentleman's sport. The par depends on the hazards and the length of the fairway,” he explained. ''From building the course and learning what each particular thing is as we built it, we knew how to play.” They just couldn't swing a club yet, and that's something we're not going to be allowed to do. Warden Cain draws the line at letting inmates caddy. “We're going to avoid the hint of impropriety,” he said. Some of the inmates who work on the course are known as trustys because of their good behavior records. And though Mr. Wright longs to play on a real course, he says he would not choose prison view. “I would like to play as a free man,” he said. “I would want to learn all I can. But once I get out there free to play like I want to, I'll enjoy it more.” So there you go. Look, I'm going to go play that course sometime, hopefully soon, and I'll give you all a report on my personal experience with it. 

And lastly, for today, I'm going to give you a quick story. Look, we got to have an actual story for you on Bloody Angola every week, right? So I'm going to give you one that I'm almost sure 99% of the people listening have never heard. Billy Blake Johnson was born on December 3rd, 1933, in Texas. He was the son of Emmett and Edna Johnson. And Emmett and Edna, his mom and dad, divorced when Billy was just a young boy. And by 1940, his father remarried and the family moved to what is known as Kern County, California, where Emmett worked as a truck driver. Nothing further is known about Billy growing up. But in 1951, he joined the Marine Corps and was stationed at Camp Pendleton. 

His military career would be short lived, and in January of 1952, Private First-Class Billy Blake Johnson was being held in the Camp Pendleton Brig for robbery. So he's starting some trouble. Then on July 18th of 1952, Johnson was able to open his cell door with the aid of a screwdriver he had acquired, and he then overtook the guard along with his firearm. Now, armed with a weapon, he commandeered a car belonging to Captain George Atkins and made his way off the military base, headed to Los Angeles. So what do you think they do? They put out an APB, an All-Points Bulletin, and eventually two LAPD officers spot a stolen vehicle occupied by Johnson. So he gets ordered out of the car, he comes out, and he's shooting, just like one of these old fashioned shootouts, and he shouts, “This is it.” 

Officers return fired, but he's able to escape injury somehow. He jumps several fences before he was taken into custody. And after his capture in LA, he was returned to that brig at Camp Pendleton and was sentenced to five years for burglary and theft, among other charges. He sits in that cell for several months and likely, what do we always say on this show? You got nothing but time in prison. He's contemplating his next move. And on a Saturday in late June of 1952, he escapes again. This time, he had an accomplice, someone by the name of Bobby Davis who had enlisted in the Marine Corps a year prior. The two make their getaway at 03:30 AM that morning in a green 1952 Chevy convertible with Texas plates. It's reported that the two were armed and known to be dangerous, and no details were really given as to how they managed to escape the brig, but they were apprehended a week later in Arizona. 

Guess what happens? There's another escape, a third escape in subsequent. Capture, and Billy Blake Johnson, eventually he serves his time and he gets paroled. But y’all, that did nothing to rehabilitate him. So in January of 1962, Johnson went to a service station in Texas, in a little suburb kind of south of Fort Worth, Texas, he buys $3.43 of gas, which back in 1962 might have filled up your whole car, and then he pulled a gun on the attendant and he says, “Act right or I'll kill you.” Johnson then takes $100 from a cash register and he forces a woman by the name of Hilleary Beck into the car with him. Beck tries to fight him off, and Johnson, in the vehicle, further threatens to kill her with this firearm. 

After driving about a mile, he then orders her out of the car and into a ditch, and he tells her, “Lie down,” and he drives away. Beck gets out of the ditch. She goes to a nearby home and calls authorities. So law enforcement, they're in hot pursuit. They're looking for him everywhere. They spot Johnson and they start chasing him. And both parties are like firing at each other, sticking guns out the window. Picture it. They're shooting back and forth at each other. Police set up a barricade to catch him. They set up a perimeter and they know he's heading in a certain direction. Johnson approaches Denton, Texas, and a patrolman by the name of A.C. Ballard leveled down on the hood of his truck with a sawed-off shotgun, and he blows out one of the tires of Johnson's getaway vehicle. The car goes out of control, y'all, it rolls over, it lands upright in a ditch. He somehow manages, again not to get hurt. He escapes serious injury in this. 

So he gets out of the car and runs. [chuckles] There's like a major man. This guy is like, impossible to catch. Major manhunt ensues and he eventually gets captured at a ranch in Denton County, Texas. Now, while in custody, he tells the arresting officers he had escaped three times from military prisons and had served time in four civilian prisons. He gets treated at the hospital for some very minor injuries, and then he's taken to jail. He goes to trial for all of this. But they find him to be insane, legally insane by a jury. here's not really, in the research I did, there's not really a whole lot of information as to how they came to that conclusion. So his criminal career doesn't end there, y’all. In 1964, Johnson went to Bonham, what's known as the Bonham, Texas jail for the sole purpose of breaking out an inmate. So it's important to note that a jury actually released-- when you were found to be insane, it's not like nowadays where you still stay in jail or whatever. He actually got released. 

But in 1964, he goes to a Bonham, Texas jail, and his whole point of going there was to break out an inmate by the name of Walter Ray Crews. He has a gun, and he literally breaks into the jail, overtakes a guard, and he forces the jailer to release Crews, and the two men haul ass. The pair makes it some 35 miles southeast to a city called Commerce, Texas, where they steal a car, and they drive 300 miles to Fort Polk, Louisiana. Now, while stopped on the side of the road, a state trooper pulls over to check on them. He sees them, doesn't realize at the time that they're escaped convicts. He just figured they were broke down, he was going to help them. Johnson, what does he do? He robs the trooper, which is a guy by the name of Jerry Raines at gunpoint and handcuffs him to a tree with his own handcuffs. Crews and Johnson then return to the stolen car and speed off. They head north. The trooper is able to eventually free himself with a spare key, and he, of course, radios in. “Hey, I just got handcuffed.” I'm sure that was an embarrassing conversation. But the duo ends up getting caught by an armed roadblock near Leesville, Louisiana. 

So Johnson gets sentenced to 15 years, and this is when he get sent to Angola, the notorious Angola prison. Bloody Angola, if you will. So he goes to Angola, and they're thinking, “Okay, he's not going to escape Angola.” Well, I wouldn't be so sure about that. On February 22nd of 1969, Johnson and two other inmates, armed with knives and a pistol, overpower guards in two separate dormitories. The guards were locked in a closet while the escapees cut the power of the main prison. Kester Lee hall, serving 189 years for murder, was captured just outside the prison. But Johnson, along with Philip Hudgins, had managed to avoid capture, but they didn't make it far. Authorities closed in on the two fugitives who were found in the swamps that surrounded the prison. Billy Blake Johnson, however, had made his last escape. Overtaken by the waters of the backed-up Mississippi, Johnson could not battle his way through the swamp. Hudgins tried to assist him and even carried Johnson for several hundred yards until he realized Billy was no longer breathing. He propped the body up of his fellow inmate against a fence and just waited while guards closed in. 

Exhausted Hudgins surrendered to law enforcement, and believe it or not, he would be released from prison in 1981. In 1983, he took a butcher knife and slashed the third of his wife and stabbed two others incidentally. Billy Blake Johnson was buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Ladonia, Texas. Although a cold, calculating, and elusive criminal, his mother still loved him. It's like Woody always says, “There's a mom somewhere and a dad and a sister and stuff that love you no matter what you've done.” His mother still loved him. His headstone was engraved with the simple epithet “Son.” So there you go. That's a story I bet you're not going to hear anywhere else, the story of Billy Blake Johnson. 

Look, I appreciate each and every one of you, Woody as well. We love, y'all. We couldn't do this without our patrons. Thank you so very much. We have a “big” thing coming to you very soon, and that's why Woody's not joining us this week. But he'll be back next week, I promise. I want to bring y'all something a little different. I hope y'all liked it. Just a little bit of everything. Golf courses, Billy Blake Johnson, and even the story of a famous warden at Angola. 

And until next time, I'm Jim Chapman. And for Woody Overton, we are your host of Bloody Angola, a podcast 142 years in the making the complete story of America's bloodiest prison. Peace. 

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Woody is stuck in the snow on the way back from Wisconsin, but it did not stop Jim from making sure you got your Bloody Angola fix for this week! He broke a previously unreleased episode from the Patreon vault out of jail! 

In this episode Bloody Angola Podcast covers several stories of serial killers who were released from prison on parole only to commit more murders.

#bloodyangolapodcast #tokillagain #serialkillers

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TRANSCRIPT

BLOODY ANGOLA PODCAST: TO KILL AGAIN

Jim: Hey, everyone, and welcome back to Bloody Angola, a podcast 142 years in the making the complete story of America's bloodiest prison. And I am Jim Chapman. And as you probably noticed, Woody Overton was not helping me with that intro. And I promise y'all, he's going to be back next week. Super-secret mission. 

Today, I thought it would be fun to talk a little bit with y'all about paroled, murderers and serial killers. And this is going to be kind of a companion podcast. We're not going to be talking specifically about Angola. There's just so much content out there, y'all, with all the presence, all these historic presence throughout the nation. And so today, I wanted to bring y’all something a little bit different. So first of all, just to discuss a little bit about parole. 

So parole is when you get released, but you're still in the charge of the prison system. So basically, they're letting you out back into society, but there are certain parameters you have to live up to. A lot of times, these folks that get paroled, they are under, what's called, supervised parole, where they have to report into a parole officer. Many times, you have to wear the little ankle bracelet that is basically like GPS and those sort of things. A lot of times, you can't leave a certain area. They've got to pretty much know where you are at all times, which is a great thing. But a lot of people think, when you get paroled, you're getting released from the system. You're not. 

Basically, they're saying you can serve out the rest of your sentence in society and you don't have to be, in Angola's case, behind the wire. But if you do anything wrong, you have to serve out the remainder of your sentence. And in some cases, a lot more than that, because then you're breaking another law. And that's a whole another case you just caught in many instances. So that's what parole is. 

Now, there's a lot of killers that you wouldn't believe were paroled nationally, and I'm going to give you a few of those today. We'll start with Kenneth Allen McDuff. So who is Kenneth Allen McDuff? Well, he was paroled not, so he could necessarily adjust a life, not to reduce recidivism, which is basically re-offense in all criminal justice systems, whether it's the United States or anywhere else. They track recidivism, which is, you get out of jail and then you continue to commit crime and you end up back in jail. Well, the United States has a high rate of recidivism. Many, many an extremely high percentage of prisoners that get released back into society do recommit, and end up back in prison. There's a lot of reasons for that. 

Sometimes they're just bad people and they're never going to quit doing what they do, and then sometimes they get released and really do try to change their life around. But for whatever reason, they end up recommitting like, maybe they couldn't get a job because they had a felony. So they resort back to the one thing they know. If they were someone that robbed people, they continue to rob because that's the only way they know to make money, and that's not making an excuse. But in some cases, some do try to change. And the way society is set up, in some ways, that's hard to do when you've got felonies on your record and you spend a long time in prison. So I would say the vast majority are just bad people and they just recommit, but not all of them are thrown into that bucket. 

So Kenneth Allen McDuff, well, he was paroled not because of any of those reasons and not because he no longer posed a threat to public society. He was paroled to reduce overcrowding, y’all. Big problem right now. Let's talk about that for a second. Overcrowding. So I would say the vast majority of the people in prison definitely deserve to be there. Do people go to prison that didn't do anything wrong and get wrongfully accused of a crime? Absolutely. It happens. As a matter of fact, I've seen stats as high as 5% to 6%, even higher than that in some cases. But if you find the average on those percentages, I've seen it's around 6% actually didn't commit the crime, they're in jail for a crime they didn't commit. And so it does happen. 

That contributes somewhat to overcrowding. A lot of it is the people that are in prison, there's a lot of people that aren't necessarily drug dealers, but they got caught with drugs, they're in prison. In a lot of cases, prison is not going to help rehabilitate a drug addict. And most drug addicts that have turned the corner and gotten on the good side of life, I guess you could say, they will tell you, prison a lot of times will make it worse. They need other types of help. But the prisons are full of drug addicts. And so that is probably the number one cause of overcrowding. 

Now, from 1966 to 1992, Kenneth McDuff, get this, committed between 9 and 22 murders in Texas. 9 to 22 murders, and they released him free into society on parole. McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara described McDuff as a “cold-blooded psychopathic killer who was more evil than the devil himself. Going as far to say McDuff never should have been released,” and I didn't have to read you that quote to figure that out. 9 to 22 murders, damn right he should have never been released. So he was on death row for actually murdering three teenagers in 1966. This dude was on death row, but his sentence got reduced to life with the possibility of parole in 1972. And that happens in a lot of cases. There's many, many lifers in Angola and in all kinds of prisons throughout the country that actually got their sentences reduced and changed to life in prison. So no different for McDuff. 

In 1972, his sentence was reduced to life. But get this, he was released in 1989 due to prison overcrowding. Absolutely crazy. Now, in 1990, the parole board actually had a chance to send him back to prison after McDuff was arrested for chasing and threatening black teenagers. That was enough. Remember what I told you? They let him out of prison, but he is still under all those prison parameters. Meaning, if he commits any crime, he has to serve out the remainder of his sentence, which in McDuff's case was life. 

So he chased down and he made a bunch of threats to these black teenagers. But neither of his actions nor the racial incentive he expressed at his parole hearing returned him to his prison cell. He just didn't go back to prison for it. I guess they figured it was just threatening. He didn't actually do anything. They regretted it because he killed at least three women between his release on parole and his return to prison finally in 1992. And he actually went to prison at that point for abducting and murdering a convenience-store clerk named Melissa Northrup and an accountant named Colleen Reed. He never expressed any remorse for his crimes. And he was finally executed by lethal injection in 1998. 

So this dude actually got released from prison. Well, first, he got his sentence changed from the death sentence to life in prison, then he gets released, then he kills at least three more people that they know of. He gets convicted of two of those, goes back on death row, and gets executed by lethal injection in 1998. So if you want to learn more about this asshole, you can definitely-- I invite you to go to google and just google Kenneth Allen McDuff. It's a pretty crazy story that one day we're going to bring to you. 

So I'm going to tell you about another one. His name is Loren Herzog, spelled L-O-R-E-N. So it may be Loren, but we're going with Loren, just because I'm not quite sure exactly how it's pronounced. But he was known as the California Speed Freak Killer. His last victim appeared to have been himself. Now, after committing a number of murders with Wesley Shermantine, who was a friend of his since childhood, he was sentenced to 78 years to life for murdering and raping Cyndi Vanderheiden. In 2004, an appeals court found that his confession may have been coerced, and a new trial was ordered for him. 

Now, when offered a plea deal, he agreed to plead guilty to manslaughter in exchange for a 14-year sentence, and he was actually paroled in 2010. Can you imagine? That sentence is 78 years to life. And over what was basically a technicality, his sentence gets reduced to manslaughter and he gets out of prison in 2010. So two years later, the parole agent who was monitoring him using GPS technology, just like I told you about at the beginning, those ankle bracelets and such, found that the tracking bracelet had a low battery. When Herzog failed to answer his telephone, the agent notified police and they found Herzog dead inside the trailer he inhabited on a fenced off property outside of the prison. So police basically investigated his death as a possible suicide. So the motive for a suicide was basically thought to have been his knowledge that Shermantine intended to tell police where the bodies of their victims were located. So he wasn't doing none of this alone. Sacramento bounty hunter, Leonard Padilla, relayed this information to Herzog shortly before Herzog killed himself. 

It's possible, he and Shermantine might have faced charges for additional homicides depending on the number of identities of the body's authorities recovered based on Shermantine's information. So, there's another one for you that was released and continued to murder. Again, you want to check him out, learn more about him? He's definitely our piece of shit number two for today. But you can google Loren, L-O-R-E-N Herzog, H-E-R-Z-O-G, and it'll tell you more information on him. 

So let's talk about Michael Keith Moon. Now, Michael Keith Moon was a career criminal who had numerous, y'all, numerous chances to reform. In 1981, he was convicted of stabbing a woman to death in Reno, Nevada. After his release from prison, in 1991, he was convicted of attempted murder for stabbing a man in a bar in Woodstock, Illinois. He was released again in 2005, and three years later was convicted of a second-degree murder after killing a 24-year-old man in California. So he goes back to prison. And guess what? In 2014, he was again granted parole and began living in a halfway house in downtown San Diego. Now, a detective by the name of Chuck Gaylor believes he committed even more murders between his time in Reno and his latest arrest and says that, “Chuck Gaylor is most likely a serial killer.” I don't even know what to say about that. You've even got detectives telling you this guy is a serial killer, and you're letting him out, just totally blows my mind. 

So let's go on to the next one, and that's Louis van Schoor, and that's spelled S-C-H-O-O-R. Now, in 1992, this serial killer, who was of South African descent, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for committing seven murders and attempting two others. So he was sentenced for those seven murders and the two he attempted. That's 9 total, 20 years in prison. That's all he was sentenced to. I couldn't believe that when I was researching this. Now, in 2004, he got released, and after serving 12 years, walking straight into the arms of his fiancé. So this guy actually was living a happy life after he committed all these murders. It was only 12 years after his conviction in 1992. 

Now, responding to silent alarms and businesses, van Schoor, who was a member of the police canine unit and security guard at the time of the murder, said he shot as many as 100 people between 1986 and 1989. And you just heard me right. I was saving that as a surprise. van Schoor was a cop. van Schoor said he was glad to be back in society and he hoped people would judge him by his future rather than his past crimes. Initially, he had nothing to say to his victims' families, but later conceded he'd appreciate their forgiveness. Absolutely freaking crazy. That's just nuts, y'all.

Now, let's talk about William Huff. So calling himself The Phantom. Serial killer, William Huff murdered seven-year-old Cindy Clelland and six-year-old Jenelle Haines and targeted a third girl before he was arrested. The murders took place in Sierra Vista, Arizona. Now, on April 30th, 1967, Cindy had been collecting bottles in exchange for candy at her neighborhood store. Following the discovery of Cindy's naked body on May 2nd, the police received a handwritten note. The note basically said, “I am The Phantom. You have found my first victim. My next victim lives on Steffan Street. Nine years old,” and in the parentheses he put (Fools!!!) and three explanation points. Now when police provided the targeted girl with 24 hours protection, Huff apparently decided to kill Jennelle instead, which was a military colonel's daughter. She was playing by a pond near the Lakeside Officers Club on June 22nd when Huff abducted her. Later that day, Janelle's body, just like Cindy's, was found naked. Six-year-old girl, y'all. 

Now police had already suspected Huff a neighborhood teenager at the time, and following Jennelle’s murder, the police chief saw Huff leaving the army post at which the Officer's Club was located. A handwriting sample obtained from Huff matched the note from The Phantom. 

Now, upon conviction for the girl's murder, he was sentenced to 15 years for one homicide and 40 for the other. And in 2005, the parole board voted unanimously to grant him parole. In 2006, he began living under house arrest in a halfway house in Tucson, Arizona. Ellen Kirschbaum, who chaired the parole board said she couldn't predict whether Huff might murder someone else. Absolutely fucking bananas, y'all. Crazy. This dude killed a six-year-old girl in addition to two others and was walking free. 

Let me tell you about Vernon Tatum. In 2017, after serving 13 years for raping and murdering several elderly women, serial killer Vernon Tatum was paroled for good behavior while incarcerated. After living in a halfway house downtown, Tatum planned to return to the Kansas City neighborhood in which he committed the crimes. Local police were disturbed at the thought a killer would soon be back among them. “He's one of the most dangerous individuals I've ever dealt with,” police detective Lester Scott said. 13 years for raping and murdering several elderly women considered a serial killer, not considered he was. And he's walking free. 

Let me tell you about Arthur Shawcross. Now, he began his career as a serial killer at the age of 27. In 1972, when he killed a 10-year-old boy, he had lured into the woods on the pretext of going fishing with him. The same year, he sexually assaulted and murdered an eight-year-old girl, who he led to a deserted area and showed her a new bicycle. He was arrested after eyewitnesses identified him as the man they had seen with their children, and he confessed to both murders. Confessed to him. But in a plea deal, he was charged with only one count. It wasn't even a murder, it was a manslaughter, which is a slap on the wrist in comparison. Now, because he was a model prisoner, he was paroled after serving 14 years only of a 25-year sentence. His criminal records were sealed. 

He settled in New York. And in 1988, guess what? No surprise. He starts killing people again. He would get prostitutes, he would kill them by asphyxiation, choke them to death, and then he'd mutilate them. A helicopter pilot happened to spot him near a murder scene, and he was arrested. He admitted to committing 10 murders, y'all. 10 murders. And he was sentenced to 250 years in prison. But I want you to think about this. Had they just kept him in prison the first time, 10 people may have been alive today that are not because he got out. Absolutely crazy. 

Let me tell you about Louise Peete. Yep, that's a female, Louise Peete. And I swear she looks like just your regular, everyday lady. Now, after serving 18 years for the murder of Jacob Charles Denton in 1920, Louise Peete was paroled. She was arrested again in 1944 after the decomposing body of Margaret Logan, who was 60, was found in a grave in the victim's California backyard. Peete admitted to burying her body but refused to say anymore. Now, in a written statement, Peete later claimed that Margaret's husband, Arthur, had shot his wife to death after first attacking Margaret. Peete said she waited for Arthur to retire for the night before burying the dead woman in Logan's backyard, afraid she'd be convicted of the murder and return to prison if the body was discovered. So her story essentially was, “I didn't kill her. Arthur did. But I went ahead and buried the body because I knew y'all would think I killed her because I'd already been in jail for murder.” So she was tried for Margaret's homicide, and Peete was found guilty of murder in the first degree, and at this time, they sentenced her to death. 

Prosecutors proved Arthur couldn't have killed his wife at the time, because he was already dead, having passed away in an insane asylum prior to the discovery of Margaret's body. So they were able to basically date even back then. Way back in 1944, they were able to date that body back to a particular time period, and they were like, “Wait a minute, he was already dead, so he couldn't have killed this lady.” And so Peete gets executed at San Quentin state prison’s gas chamber. They had the gas chamber in 1947. The motives for her crime were monetary, basically. She just wanted money. By shooting her victim, she hoped to gain their property and their estates. And as she was about to be executed, she told the prison's warden, who was Clinton Duffy at San Quentin that, “I've been ready for a long time.” And then she inhaled that gas. I hope she took the deepest breath she ever took in her life and just choked and burned. When you suck in that gas from the gas chamber, it's going to burn your throat, and I hope she suffered. 

So let me tell you about Gerald Gallego and Charlene Williams. Gerald was twice paroled before committing multiple sexual assaults and 10 murders. He was paroled in July 1961 after serving less than a year, y'all, in a boy school for committing lewd and lascivious acts with a six-year-old girl. So he rapes this six year old girl and serves less than a year in a boys school for it. And then in 1963, he gets arrested again and serves two years for armed robbery. Now, after five marriages in which he abused his wives, he meets Charlene Williams at a poker club in Sacramento, California. And together, in 1978, they began abducting girls in California and Nevada to serve as sex slaves. 

The first two victims were 17-year-old Rhonda Scheffler and 16-year-old Kippi Vaught, both of whom he shot dead following an apparent trust with them in a secluded wooded area. In all, by November 1980, the couple had racked up 10 victims, all teenagers, most of which they kept as sex slaves before murdering them. A friend of the last two victims, Craig Miller and his fiancé, Mary Sowers, saw the couple get into Gallego’s vehicle and wrote down its license plate number. At a remote location, Gallego shot Miller killing him before he and Williams drove to another location, where he sexually assaulted and murdered Sowers. 

Now, when Miller and Sowers didn't return home, the witness gave Gallego’s license number to the police. Convicted of the murders of Miller and Sowers, Gallego was sentenced to death in 1984. For testifying against him, Williams received a short 16-year, 8 months sentence and was paroled in 1997. And definitely google these. Not a bad looking couple. Definitely not a couple you'd look at and think they were having sex slaves and killing them and all this sort of stuff. Williams is still around, I mean, running free. So paroled for testifying against her husband or her boyfriend rather. 

Now, let's talk about Richard Marquette. Richard Marquette was a cannibal serial killer who chopped up and froze his victims. He'd save them to eat later. And his fellow inmates believed he'd kill again. But he was found fit for parole after serving only 12 years of his sentence. This is a dude that would kill people, freeze them, freeze their body parts, chop them up, freeze them, and eat them later on. And after 12 years, he was found fit for parole. Now, shortly after his release, as you would assume, he committed more murders. 

His first victim was Joan Caudle. She was 23. He said he met her in a Portland, Oregon bar on June of 1961. He strangled her when they argued after having consensual sex. Chops up her body to make it easier to dispose of her remains. He was arrested on June 30th of that year and got convicted in December of 1961 and sentenced to life in prison. Now paroled after serving 12 years, he killed again, but this time, the murder went undetected. He wasn't as lucky when he murdered and dissected Betty Wilson, however, in Salem, Washington. And guess what? He was sentenced to life in prison yet again. Crazy. Crazy. 

So that's just some of the probably hundreds of people that have been released after being serial killers or murders. They walk amongst you every day in some cases. You just never know who you're dealing with. And I thought that all of you, Patreon supporters, would appreciate hearing about several different parolees that sure as hell don't deserve to be walking amongst the free. I do want to say, and I know I speak for Woody when I say how much we love and appreciate all of you. Next time that we bring you something, I promise you, Woody will be with me. I hope y'all enjoyed my little solo stuff here. I don't do the solo stuff as much as Woody does. Typically, I'm more interview style. So with my podcast, which is Local Leaders: The Podcast, I interview business owners and with Real Life Real Crime Daily. Obviously, it's a three man deal with me, Woody and Mike Agovino. And so I've rather enjoyed talking to y'all. 

I'm not really talking by myself or talking to myself, because I'm talking to y’all, but I'm in here by myself and I've rather enjoyed it. This may be something that I consider doing more often at some point. But much love, I appreciate all of you. Please, please, please, very important before we get out of here. Obviously, if you're a supporter of Bloody Angola. You like the content and you definitely appreciate what we do. I would ask that just two requests. Number one, if you haven't reviewed us yet, I'm sure the majority of you have, please do so. Go to Apple podcast, if that's the app that you would get podcasts. Normally if you weren't listening on Patreon, go there and give us a review. If you're a Spotify person, please do that. Reviews are so important to our rankings. And the higher we rank, the more that they share our podcast with the world. So it's just so important. 

Also, please, if you could share us on Facebook, you can share the link from your Patreon and just say, “Hey, I love supporting Bloody Angola podcast.” If you'd like to join their patron, here's the link. If not, we understand, we totally get it. Times aren't great right now, financially for a lot of people, and we totally get it if someone can't do that. But they could sure join, they could listen on for free with ads included on iTunes and all that sort of stuff. So we're just trying to build this and make it as successful as we possibly can. Until next time, I'm Jim Chapman, your cohost of Bloody Angola, a podcast 142 years in the making a complete story of America's bloodiest prison. Peace. 

Bloody Angola is an Envision Podcast Production in partnership with Workhouse Connect. Music produced and composed by Alfe DeRouen in Studio 433, with vocals by Thomas Cain, created and hosted by Jim Chapman and Woody. 

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