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Atlantic Documentaries

Angola for Life

Sep 09, 2015 | 103 videos
Video by The Atlantic

There are more than 6,000 men currently imprisoned at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola—three-quarters of them are there for life, and nearly 80 percent are African American. It's the end of the line for many convicted criminals in Louisiana, which has the highest incarceration rate of any state in the U.S. In this Atlantic original documentary, national correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg goes inside Angola to speak with inmates and with warden Burl Cain, who has managed the prison for two decades. Cain and his colleagues grapple with the crucial question: What does rehabilitation look like when you're locked away for life?

Read Goldberg's recent reflection on the filmmaking process, as well as his in-depth report on crime in Louisiana, "A Matter of Black Lives," from The Atlantic's September issue.

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Authors: Jeffrey Goldberg, Sam Price-Waldman, Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg

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