Alex was a juvenile when he was arrested and eventually convicted for his role in a murder. Alex is not his real name. He agreed to sit down with me for an interview if I agreed not to use his real identity or mention the business he runs in the New Orleans area.
In part 1 of this story, Alex explained how he wasn’t the triggerman, but was convicted of being a principal to the murder because he refused to tell authorities about his knowledge of what took place. By the age of 20, Alex was incarcerated at Louisiana State Penitentiary aka Angola. The largest maximum-security prison in the United States has long been considered one of the most violent in the nation. Alex witnessed some of that violence as he was serving a life sentence in Angola.
Seven years into that life sentence Alex’s reality became clear to him. He says his family had abandoned him. Though an adult, he could only read at a fifth grade level. Above all else, he was locked up. But after a particular birthday when he attempted to contact his family, Alex told himself he would not just survive, but overcome the harsh conditions in Angola.
“I was saying to myself the system had placed me here and this is what they want me to endure. And I’m not going to give that system the pleasure of me suffering the way they want me to suffer,” Alex said.
Alex was raised in the Baptist faith. He admits he had practically forsaken his faith in those initial years when he was in Angola. But around 1995, then warden of Angola, Burl Cain, put in place a prototype program that included a seminary program within Angola’s walls. In part two of this story, Alex enters that program at Angola and finds a pathway to spiritual and physical freedom. Listen to episode two here.
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