Two weeks before Christmas 2024, U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins visited the Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola) to talk turkey, Jesus and Jeff Landry.
Since the election of Landry as Louisiana’s governor, Angola inmates have been feeling hopeless and angry as they watched the new “law and order” administration roll back eight years of criminal justice reform. From the moment Landry took office in January 2024, replacing the moderate Democrat John Bel Edwards, the Republican has been trying to make Louisiana tougher on crime and on criminals.
Although Higgins claimed he came with no agenda beyond evangelism — “No script, no speech … only the spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ” — the Republican representative’s visit was largely taken up by addressing prisoner concerns about the governor.
Angola’s main prison chapel was filled to capacity. Approximately 300 people gathered to attend the “town hall.” It is fairly atypical for elected officials to visit constituents who cannot vote and are prohibited by Department of Corrections policy from contributing to or campaigning for candidates. But even more surprising was the representative’s message.
“Angola has a congressman,” he promised, adding that he would “campaign” for our “causes.”
In addition to these assurances, Higgins brought 3,500 pounds of what he called “top-quality protein”: 100 turkeys, 100 chickens, 100 beef roasts and 100 hams.
During the meeting, Angola inmates were most interested in what plans the new governor had for them.
Secretary of Corrections Gary Westcott, who also attended the town hall and spoke briefly, estimated that, under Edwards, the ratio of paroles granted to paroles denied was 80-20, while under the Landry administration those numbers have flipped.
Asked about the abrupt about-face, Higgins attributed the change in outcomes to “cycles” and urged Angola inmates to be patient and wait for the clemency drought to end. Westcott clarified that the pardon and parole board is directly appointed by the governor.
At one point, Higgins said “I have the ear of the governor.” But he also repeatedly explained he could only advocate for change, not create it, because the ultimate authority lay with Landry. This made it unclear how hopeful Higgins was about persuading the governor to ask his parole board to relent, or to speak out on issues close to the heart of the Angola community.
Many people in the crowd had been convicted by a nonunanimous jury, a relic of Jim Crow that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in 2020. But the ruling was not retroactive, meaning people who were already convicted under a nonunanimous jury would not be granted relief. Others raised concerns about the lack of Spanish translators in the Louisiana court system. Overall, it seemed to me that people were just pleading to be understood.
Higgins stressed Landry was a “good man” and implored Angola’s population to reserve judgement. Higgins also made his offices’ addresses available and gave his word he would read every letter sent to him by an Angola inmate. So far, Higgins seems to have kept his word. Those who reached out have received official replies on official stationery. But the replies have been somewhat formulaic.
Donald Reaux sent a three-page letter to Higgins about what he considered an egregious violation of his constitutional rights. He explained that VH1 had aired a documentary about Reaux’s case before his trial, but the judge refused to sequester the jury, which Reaux believes unjustly affected the outcome of his case.
Reaux said he received a four-sentence reply from the representative’s office. “I’m not gonna lie on the man,” Reaux said. “I feel like he’s really trying to help.”
Meanwhile, Higgins’ single concrete contribution to Angola was 1.75 tons of meat. Higgins took no credit for the idea, saying, “The Lord told me to bring you groceries.” Apparently, the Lord did not take into consideration Angola’s sizable vegetarian population.
