Federal court leaves Angola prison farm line in place despite ruling on heat conditions

BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — A federal judge decided that the Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola, violated the rights of incarcerated workers.

This was due to the dangerous heat in the prison’s agricultural labor program. However, the judge stopped short of ordering the prison to end the practice.

‘They’re still humans:’ Court hearings continue on the lawsuit filed against the state, Angola’s prison labor

The lawsuit targeted Angola’s “Farm Line” program. This program forces incarcerated men to do agricultural work on prison grounds. Plaintiffs argued the work conditions were unsafe and tied to Louisiana’s history of slavery and racial subjugation.

The ruling, according to the Promise of Justice Initiative, said Angola forced incarcerated workers to continue field labor even when the heat index reached 113 degrees. A judge ruled that those heat conditions are unconstitutional.

Still, the court declined to issue permanent relief, noting the prison had already made changes after years of legal pressure.

Those changes included:

Expanded protections for people sensitive to extreme heat.

Plaintiffs argued the reforms could be reversed because they are not permanently required by the court.

The lawsuit was filed in 2023 by the Promise of Justice Initiative and Rights Behind Bars on behalf of incarcerated plaintiffs and members of the advocacy organization Voice of the Experienced (VOTE).

Advocates criticized the ruling, saying it allows Angola to continue a labor system they argue mirrors slavery.

“While the Court agrees that Louisiana has indeed violated the rights of people at Angola, it stops short of ordering those violations to end,” said Samantha Kennedy, executive director of the Promise of Justice Initiative.

Terrance Winn, a formerly incarcerated advocate who worked on Angola’s Farm Line for decades, also reacted to the decision.

“People would rather lose their minds than endure the Farm Line,” Winn said. “We have to continue to believe and push: We can end this form of slavery.”

The court did not rule in favor of the plaintiffs’ broader argument that the Farm Line itself is unconstitutional because of its connection to slavery and racial punishment.

Federal court leaves Angola prison farm line in place despite ruling on heat conditions

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