The Farm Life Inside Angola Analysis

The Farm: Life Inside Angola is a documentary that looks into the lives of 7 inmates while they serve time in one of America’s largest prisons. All of the inmates that share their story with the researchers are serving a sentence of 75 years or more. This film highlights important injustices inside institutional prison by focusing on the lives of these individuals and through highlighting racial inequality, issues in the justice system, and the true aspects of life inside Angola. Racial inequality runs wild at Angola where the majority of prisoners are African American, a percentage that is a gross misrepresentation of the Louisiana population. Additionally, issues in the justice system that are showcased in The Farm stem from quick excerpt …show more content…
Whether intentionally or not, there were many times the filmmakers showed these strong relationships. One instance is when Logan “Bones” Theriot, who was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife, was dying of lung cancer. Many other inmates who were very close to Bones came to see him when they were allowed. After Bones’ death, his family was very emotional to find out that Bones did not want to be buried on the “other side” as Bones put it. Bones stated many times that his family, the only people he’s really loved and learned to know, where at Angola and because of this, he wanted to be buried there. Additionally, the importance of communal worship is shown as a way that inmates bond. Eugene 'Bishop ' Tannehill, who is serving a life sentence, became a bishop after arriving at Angola. He helps lead weekly meeting where inmates can come together to celebrate life, God, and each other. A second key point that filmmakers emphasized was the opportunities that inmates had while inside Angola. Inmates all started at the base level job which was working the field but they could all work their way up to a more interesting/fulfilling job. Wilbert Rideau, who was (I say was due to the fact that in 2005 Rideau was retried for a lesser crime and was released) serving time for murder and …show more content…
If an inmate has reached his maximum level of rehabilitation (which this documentary showed multiple inmates have) why are they still being kept in prison? Is it just to so that they serve time for their crime? The majority of prisons today seem to be set up in order to deter other individuals from committing crimes and to punish individuals who have already committed crimes. Rehabilitation does not seem to be the focus. This documentary showed ways that rehabilitation is a focus of life at Angola but that leads me to ask the question, why? The large majority of prisoners at Angola will never be released, so what is the need to rehabilitate these individuals? I think this documentary answers the question, “Can prisoners be rehabilitated?” Yes and yes! Multiple times this documentary showed prisoners who had only served 25, 30 years already behaving drastically better and contributing to society inside and outside of prison. This is qualitative research that sheds light on the importance of rehabilitation in prison and on the effects it has on inmates. Another important question this film brings to my mind is the aspect of community bonds inside prison. Though Angola has had a long history with inmate violence, it was incredible nice to see relationships formed between inmates. I think more and more focus should be placed on community development inside prison in order to help