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In the Place of Justice: A Story of Punishment and Redemption
Wilbert Rideau, an award-winning journalist who spent forty-four years in prison, delivers a remarkable memoir of crime, punishment, and ultimate triumph.
After killing a bank teller in a moment of panic during a botched robbery, Wilbert Rideau was sentenced to death at the age of nineteen. He spent several years on death row at Angola before his sentence was commuted to life, where, as editor of the prison newsmagazine The Angolite , he undertook a mission to expose and reform Louisiana's iniquitous justice system from the inside. Vivid, incisive, and compassionate, this is a detailed account of prison life and a man who accepted responsibility for his actions and worked to redeem himself. It is a story about not giving up; finding love in unexpected places; the power of kindness; and the ability to do good, no matter where you are.
After killing a bank teller in a moment of panic during a botched robbery, Wilbert Rideau was sentenced to death at the age of nineteen. He spent several years on death row at Angola before his sentence was commuted to life, where, as editor of the prison newsmagazine The Angolite , he undertook a mission to expose and reform Louisiana's iniquitous justice system from the inside. Vivid, incisive, and compassionate, this is a detailed account of prison life and a man who accepted responsibility for his actions and worked to redeem himself. It is a story about not giving up; finding love in unexpected places; the power of kindness; and the ability to do good, no matter where you are.
416 pages, Paperback
First published April 17, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
July 19, 2010
No one can fault this book for what it is. It's an extraordinary tale (what a cliche) of one man's struggle for freedom, as he survives a life behind bars. What's great about this book: Rideau never once shies away from admitting he killed a woman, and we know this from the very beginning. And it's hard not to find his tale of rehabilitation in one of America's toughest prisons (Angola in Louisiana) impressive. Yet, even he admits that part of that was sheer dumb luck. Had he not been sentenced to death row, he would have been thrown into general population--a place where the naive, baby-faced, nineteen year-old would barely have survived one day. Living on death row--a sentence that was later commuted to life--taught him what he needed to know to survive in prison...skills that later came in handy. Rideau's story demonstrates many things, most of which I won't go into here...but what it does show, is that without some powerful people fighting for you on the outside, the chance of someone getting out of prison is very, very slim.
The book is long...in some places, very overwritten (like this review). An editor with a less forgiving hand might have helped. Rideau seems determined to record everything he ever did in this book, and at times, stories of his achievements appear in the middle of a narrative about another event without rhyme or reason.
Well worth reading, especially for his perspective on how prison life operated and for his description of what freedom is like for someone who hasn't had it for forty years.
The book is long...in some places, very overwritten (like this review). An editor with a less forgiving hand might have helped. Rideau seems determined to record everything he ever did in this book, and at times, stories of his achievements appear in the middle of a narrative about another event without rhyme or reason.
Well worth reading, especially for his perspective on how prison life operated and for his description of what freedom is like for someone who hasn't had it for forty years.
November 21, 2011
Incredibly detailed account of a man imprisoned at 19 years of age for murdering a white woman in 1961, but developed into a mature, thoughtful and successful journalist within Angola Prison. He made great gains for prison reform and for freeing individuals wrongfully incarcerated. Proof positive that literacy interventions, information resources, and respect for individuals' rights and attitudes of self-worth within the prison system create a better outcome for all, as opposed to a philosophy based on warehousing and retribution. Rideau was unusual in his ability to overcome a huge tide of biased and unjust retribution, and if it weren't for his unique ability to carry on and continue to hope, he would have been another of hundreds of offenders who are forgotten inside the prison complex, serving time until death as unjust punishment, even when rehabilitation has been established. While at times a bit tedious, the details of his work as an award-winning journalist are inspiring. And his perspective of contemporary Southern history, spanning the 1960's through the present day, all from within Angola Prison and various Louisiana jails, provides a unique look at the Civil Rights Movement and its persistent residue.
February 8, 2020
This has been on my TBR list since 2015 (yikes). I got the rec from an NPR broadcast when I used to be an avid listener. Rideau didn't leave out a single detail writing his autobiography, nor should he have since the roller coaster ride which was his life in prison lasted 44 years. What I learned from this book, just like every other book, is that some people are good, some suck, and that's humanity in a nutshell.
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September 21, 2012April 27, 2010 A death row inmate finds redemption as a prison journalist in this uplifting memoir. In 1961, after a bungled bank robbery, Rideau was convicted of murder at the age of 19 and received a death sentence that was later commuted to life in prison at Louisiana's Angola penitentiary, then the most violent in the nation. Against all expectations, his own included, he turned his up-to-then cursed life around, becoming editor of the prison newsmagazine, the Angolite, and an NPR correspondent who published nationally acclaimed articles on prison violence, rape and sexual slavery, and the cruelty of the electric chair. Rideau frames his 44-year fight to get his conviction reduced to manslaughter and win parole (he succeeded in 2005) as a black man's struggle against a racist criminal justice establishment. More inspiring is his self-reclamation through tough, committed journalism in an unpropitious setting where survival required canny alliance building against predatory inmates and callous authorities alike. To a society that treats convicts as a worthless underclass, Rideau's story is a compelling reminder that rehabilitation should be the focus of a penal system. With probing intelligence but only a ninth-grade education, Rideau honed his acclaimed journalism skills inside Louisiana's notorious Angola prison. In 1961, at the age of 19, he killed a white woman in the course of a bank robbery. Sentenced to death, he was eventually given a life sentence after repeated appeals based on irregularities in his trial and national changes in policy regarding the death penalty. Rideau suffered years on death row and in solitary; once integrated into the broader population, he worked his way onto The Angolite, the prison publication. Eventually becoming editor, he earned the respect of the warden, prisoners, guards, as well as the broader journalism profession, with exposés of the politics and economics of the prison system, earning several prestigious press awards along the way. He struggled with journalistic principles in a highly charged environment in which all sides were hyperpartisan and often violent. After 44 years and scores of appeals lost to political machinations, Rideau was finally freed in 2005. This is more than a prison memoir; it is a searing indictment of the American justice system.
SUMMARY:
In 1961, at the age of nineteen, young, black, eighth-grade dropout, Wilbert Rideau, despaired of the dead-end and small-town future his life held for him. He set out to rob the local bank and in an ill-concieved out and bungled robbery he murdered the bank teller a young, white female. He was arrested and gave a full confession at the local police station while angry mobs chanted kill that nigger outside. From this beginning, where we meet Rideau, newly sentenced to death row, he starts on an extraordinary journey. One that begins in the most violent prison in America, where brutality, years spent in solitary confinement, sexual slavery and local politics govern and confine many in ways that bars alone cannot.The ending to this compelling book is like nothing you will have read before, full of breathtaking suspense and gripping, gritty realism, a heartbreaking, emotionally wrought and magical ending to Rideaus prison life is skilfully and vigorously evoked.This is a powerful and inspirational memoir unlike any other, one that is sure to question our expectations of prisoners and the role of jails in rehabilitating them .
June 3, 2010
I was quite engaged by this biography for two reasons. Firstly, it read like a novel, because it contained large amounts of dialogue, which helps to break up the text and improves the flavour you get for the setting. Secondly, I'd just been reading about racism in the American South recently, in The Help, so In the Place of Justice continued on a thread I already had open and primed by another fine book.
Before this, I had never thought to try to find out what prison might really be like. I was surprised to find the author practically reading my mind when he wrote, "Like almost everyone else, before I found out firsthand what prison was like, I thought it was just a purgatory where criminals were warehoused and punished before being returned to society." He continues, "I was surprised to learn that it was a world unto itslef, with its own peculiar culture, belief system, lifestyle, power structure, economy, and currency," and I think the book succeeds in illustrating all these facets of prison using a raft of examples from the author's own forty-four year tenure in prison.
As for the author painting himself in a favourable light, I don't mind that. It is clear that this is all from his perspective, like a newspaper editorial, and if I want anything more than that, I'll have to read additional sources.
Before this, I had never thought to try to find out what prison might really be like. I was surprised to find the author practically reading my mind when he wrote, "Like almost everyone else, before I found out firsthand what prison was like, I thought it was just a purgatory where criminals were warehoused and punished before being returned to society." He continues, "I was surprised to learn that it was a world unto itslef, with its own peculiar culture, belief system, lifestyle, power structure, economy, and currency," and I think the book succeeds in illustrating all these facets of prison using a raft of examples from the author's own forty-four year tenure in prison.
As for the author painting himself in a favourable light, I don't mind that. It is clear that this is all from his perspective, like a newspaper editorial, and if I want anything more than that, I'll have to read additional sources.
July 29, 2011
It's an honest, raw memoir of a man who does good, and serves his time with honor and dignity. It's an insightful book that honestly illustrates that everyone is redeemable and worthy of a second chance by proving it with diligence and patience. It's also an indictment about no matter how evil prisoners can be, and how society perceives prisoners, no one ever deserves to live inhumanly.
Sexual slavery, the annual Angola prison, being fried to death by electric chair--all forms of human cruelty that are depicted in this memoir are all unflinchingly revealed by this talented writer.
Sexual slavery, the annual Angola prison, being fried to death by electric chair--all forms of human cruelty that are depicted in this memoir are all unflinchingly revealed by this talented writer.
May 21, 2010
This was a good read but I got bored reading the same ole' same ole' page after page. I also felt the writer was a bit over the top consistently taking about "me" to the point of losing sight of the fact he was in prison for a reason.
August 13, 2010
Excellent memoir by a man who was imprisoned in Angola for 44 years. He provides an insider's view of the criminal justice system from 1961-2005 that is unique and worth reading.
March 1, 2011
It’s incomprehensible to imagine what Wilbert Rideau, and prisoners like him, went through during his incarceration in the infamous Angola prison in Louisiana. In an era where racial equality was non-existent, where 85% of the prison’s population were black – later that was reduced to an 80-20% ratio – and the prison run by “rednecks”, I find it miraculous that he managed not only to successfully educate himself but to rehabilitate to such a degree that made him the envy of many journalists and scholars in America.
By 1988 and having served four times longer than the national average for prisoners it became clear to Wilbert, if he hadn’t realised before, that he was being singled out for killing a white woman. When he was sentenced to death in 1962 he was one of 13 prisoners on death row in Angola – of those he remained the only prisoner who had not been released. According to James Gill, a columnist for the Times-Picayune, Rideau was victimised – I have to say on reading his memoirs and recollections I wholeheartedly agree with him.
“With probing intelligence but only a ninth-grade education, Rideau honed his acclaimed journalism skills inside Louisiana's notorious Angola prison. In 1961, at the age of 19, he killed a white woman in the course of a bank robbery. Sentenced to death, he was eventually given a life sentence after repeated appeals based on irregularities in his trial and national changes in policy regarding the death penalty. Rideau suffered years on death row and in solitary; once integrated into the broader population, he worked his way onto The Angolite, the prison publication.
Eventually becoming editor, he earned the respect of the warden, prisoners, guards, as well as the broader journalism profession, with exposés of the politics and economics of the prison system, earning several prestigious press awards along the way. He struggled with journalistic principles in a highly charged environment in which all sides were hyper-partisan and often violent. After 44 years and scores of appeals lost to political machinations, Rideau was finally freed in 2005. This is more than a prison memoir; it is a searing indictment of the American justice system“
Full review on my blog - http://www.milorambles.com/2011/03/01...
By 1988 and having served four times longer than the national average for prisoners it became clear to Wilbert, if he hadn’t realised before, that he was being singled out for killing a white woman. When he was sentenced to death in 1962 he was one of 13 prisoners on death row in Angola – of those he remained the only prisoner who had not been released. According to James Gill, a columnist for the Times-Picayune, Rideau was victimised – I have to say on reading his memoirs and recollections I wholeheartedly agree with him.
“With probing intelligence but only a ninth-grade education, Rideau honed his acclaimed journalism skills inside Louisiana's notorious Angola prison. In 1961, at the age of 19, he killed a white woman in the course of a bank robbery. Sentenced to death, he was eventually given a life sentence after repeated appeals based on irregularities in his trial and national changes in policy regarding the death penalty. Rideau suffered years on death row and in solitary; once integrated into the broader population, he worked his way onto The Angolite, the prison publication.
Eventually becoming editor, he earned the respect of the warden, prisoners, guards, as well as the broader journalism profession, with exposés of the politics and economics of the prison system, earning several prestigious press awards along the way. He struggled with journalistic principles in a highly charged environment in which all sides were hyper-partisan and often violent. After 44 years and scores of appeals lost to political machinations, Rideau was finally freed in 2005. This is more than a prison memoir; it is a searing indictment of the American justice system“
Full review on my blog - http://www.milorambles.com/2011/03/01...
February 7, 2011
Wilbert Rideau was nineteen years old in 1961. An African American living in Lake Charles, Louisiana, born into a poor family with little hope of improving himself.
In a botched bank robbery he murders a yound lady and is sentenced to death.
Thus begins his remarkable life in the penal system of Louisiana. He is sent to Angola State Penitentiary, the Alcatraz of the South. He spends the next 44 years in various Louisiana prisons, but most are spent in Angloa. He spends 12 years on death row and 11 years in solitary confinement.
In prison he became a self educated man and became the editor of the prison newsletter, The Angolite, which has received many awards for its journalism about the corrupt penal system.
The book not only exposes the corruption but tells of the dangerous living conditions in the prison. He shows Angola's unique culture, encompassing not only rivalries, sexual slavery, ingrained racism, and daily soul-killing injustices, but also acts of courage and decency by keeper and kept alike.
Rideau was passed over for parole time after time and had almost resigned himself that he would never leave the prison systme alive.
In 2005 a fourth trial earned Rideau his freedom. The trial brought up the inconsistencies and lies that were part of his first trial. His sentence was changed from murder to manslaughter and Rideau was freed for time served. It should be noted that Rideau, at no time, denied the killing, just the conditions under which the murder occurred.
An excellent biography that not only brings out the injustice carried out against Rideau, but also a story of love, dedication, loyalty, and perserverence.
In a botched bank robbery he murders a yound lady and is sentenced to death.
Thus begins his remarkable life in the penal system of Louisiana. He is sent to Angola State Penitentiary, the Alcatraz of the South. He spends the next 44 years in various Louisiana prisons, but most are spent in Angloa. He spends 12 years on death row and 11 years in solitary confinement.
In prison he became a self educated man and became the editor of the prison newsletter, The Angolite, which has received many awards for its journalism about the corrupt penal system.
The book not only exposes the corruption but tells of the dangerous living conditions in the prison. He shows Angola's unique culture, encompassing not only rivalries, sexual slavery, ingrained racism, and daily soul-killing injustices, but also acts of courage and decency by keeper and kept alike.
Rideau was passed over for parole time after time and had almost resigned himself that he would never leave the prison systme alive.
In 2005 a fourth trial earned Rideau his freedom. The trial brought up the inconsistencies and lies that were part of his first trial. His sentence was changed from murder to manslaughter and Rideau was freed for time served. It should be noted that Rideau, at no time, denied the killing, just the conditions under which the murder occurred.
An excellent biography that not only brings out the injustice carried out against Rideau, but also a story of love, dedication, loyalty, and perserverence.
December 19, 2010
Non-fiction can be scary to read because it is NON fiction. For Wilbert Rideau, a black man, to have survived after being sentenced for death after killing a white woman in 1961 Louisiana, and then becoming "the most rehabilitated prisoner in America" is amazing.
I reviewed this book for New York Journal of Books, but in short I recommend this book to everyone because it's not JUST about racism in America's penal system, but about American JUSTICE. What the author relates is backed up by court documents and can only be dismissed by politicians and critics who refuse to accept the facts in black and white (no pun intended). The mishandling of justice affects prisoners of ALL races, not to mention the victims of crime.
Rideau does not make excuses for himself and accepts his guilt and remorse for taking an innocent life, but what happened to Rideau by the workings of the American justice system should have EVERY American citizen concerned and far less hasty to accept the sound bites fed to us from politicians and the media.
I reviewed this book for New York Journal of Books, but in short I recommend this book to everyone because it's not JUST about racism in America's penal system, but about American JUSTICE. What the author relates is backed up by court documents and can only be dismissed by politicians and critics who refuse to accept the facts in black and white (no pun intended). The mishandling of justice affects prisoners of ALL races, not to mention the victims of crime.
Rideau does not make excuses for himself and accepts his guilt and remorse for taking an innocent life, but what happened to Rideau by the workings of the American justice system should have EVERY American citizen concerned and far less hasty to accept the sound bites fed to us from politicians and the media.
March 4, 2011
Anyone who thinks racism is dead and gone in 21st century America, or just words on a page, needs to read Rideau's story. A bit lengthy at times, it is intense and fascinating. Rideau committed an impulsive crime at age 19 for which he was railroaded onto death row. Feel sorry for him? Well, he doesn't feel sorry for himself so get past that. Three trials and forty-four years later he's one of the longest-serving prisoners in Louisiana and doing time with him is a real eye-opener into issues of why and how we incarcerate. Rideau asks, very tellingly, why the state of Louisiana spends $500 a year to educate a child but $5,000 a year to lock up that child. His 4 trials were the most interesting part of the book to me, but I'm a lawyer, so go figure.
April 24, 2023
RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: “YOUR FREE WORLD IS ABOUT THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS; THIS PRISON WORLD, THE STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE”
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This is the author’s life story which includes FORTY-FOUR-YEARS incarcerated in Louisiana prisons. The first thing potential readers should be aware of… and don’t let the title fool you… is that Wilbert Rideau is guilty of murder. He openly admits it. But there’s a difference in being guilty of murder that is judged to be manslaughter as compared to being convicted of premeditated murder. Wilbert was nineteen-years-old in 1961 when he attempted to rob a bank in Louisiana. This was the Louisiana that was still influenced by the Klu Klux Klan and other openly racist behavior. It should be noted that this was not a well thought out… highly intricate bank robbing scheme. It was a spur of the moment… immature… ridiculously… stupid… robbery attempt. Wilbert took three bank employees’ hostage and left the scene in a car. He wound up killing one woman, Julia Ferguson. When Rideau was quickly caught his biggest fear was that he would be lynched… burned… and dismembered. When Wilbert went to court all the testimony was falsified which made the charge pre-meditated murder rather than manslaughter. His court appointed lawyers didn’t even cross examine. The verdict handed down was the death sentence.
The power and breadth of this story is not so much (though not minimizing the importance) the original maneuvers that changed the charges… but what the author lived through and shares from that point on. The next forty-four-years are spent in numerous prisons… with times in solitary confinement that broke records in their longevity… but the core… and very soul… of Wilbert’s life and story resides in the “LOUISIANA STATE PENITENTIARY, MORE POPULARLY KNOWN AS *ANGOLA*”… *THROUGHOUT THE MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY IT WAS KNOWN AS THE MOST INTIMIDATING PRISON IN AMERICA.* Wilbert arrived at Angola on April 11, 1962. As federal and state laws changed Rideau went on and off death row. His sentence changed from death to life. The reader is put right in the middle of Angola at its worst as an example “from 1972 to 1975, 67 prisoners were stabbed to death in Angola, and more than 350 others were seriously injured from knife wounds. The violence affected one of every ten prisoners, not counting those injured in fistfights or beatings with blunt objects.” Sexual perversion and rapes was far worse in actuality than portrayed in movies. “SLAVERY WAS COMMONPLACE AT ANGOLA, WITH PERHAPS A QUARTER OF THE POPULATION IN BONDAGE.” Every sexual act imaginable was performed with gang rapes an everyday occurrence. How bad was it at Angola? “EVEN IN MAXIMUM-SECURITY CELLBLOCKS, MEN TIED THEIR DOORS SHUT FOR AN EXTRA MEASURE OF SAFETY. SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST WAS THE ONLY LAW, AND FEAR WAS THE SUPREME RULER OF ALL.”
The penalty for being caught with a weapon was high… but being killed unarmed was worse. “THE ANGOLA INMATES’ CREDO: I’D RATHER BE CAUGHT BY SECURITY WITH A WEAPON THAN BY MY ENEMY WITHOUT ONE.” In the midst of this jungle the author found writing. And with his writing his incarcerated life was akin to a beautiful flower that somehow is able to grow and bloom through a miniscule crack in an obliterated cement street in an urban city. Thanks to some shining lights who became wardens at Angola such as C. Paul Phelps… who Wilbert dedicated this book to… and Ross Maggio, Jr. … among others… “The Angolite” the prison newspaper was allowed to be written and printed uncensored. This was unheard of in this environment. Wilbert’s writings gave hope to prisoners that had previously been hopeless… and made the world aware of Angola… and prisoner’s rights being denied and abused. Wilbert became famous… won awards… and was actually allowed to travel outside the prison to give speeches. Through it all… despite all the good that Wilbert achieved he could not get his sentence commuted. Whether it was Governors who lied to their constituents or parole board members being coerced or mandatory sentence laws being changed… Wilbert was forced to endure. Despite his inability to free himself… he continued to aid other inmates in their release. During this tortuous… endless… sentence… it is extremely interesting how powerful Wilbert became in dealing with inmates of varying factions… wardens… and the nations press. Along with the aforementioned wardens… Wilbert was also responsible “for there only being two killings in 1976 and one in 1977, and fewer than ten stabbings serious enough to require hospitalization.”
You will be taken on a painful prison journey that keeps detouring from hope… and learn along with Wilbert as “THE OTHER OCCUPANTS OF DEATH ROW TOLD ME NEVER TO LET AN ENEMY CATCH ME SITTING ON A COMMODE WITH MY DRAWERS PULLED DOWN AROUND MY ANKLES BECAUSE THEN I COULD NEITHER RUN NOR FIGHT”… you’ll share with Wilbert what demons you must battle when you spend *TWELVE-YEARS-IN-SOLITARY-CONFINEMENT*… when he says: “IT’S QUIET. PROFOUNDLY SO. RAIN WHISPERS AGAINST THE OPEN WINDOW A FEW FEET AWAY. THE ONLY OTHER THING YOU CAN HEAR IS YOUR OWN HEART, THUMPING. I’VE KNOWN MEN WHO COULD NOT STAND THIS SILENCE, BUT I’VE GROWN ACCUSTOMED TO IT. I SCRATCH A FINGERNAIL ON ONE OF THE BARS, TO REASSURE MYSELF I HAVEN’T GONE DEAF. I’VE STOOD HERE MANY NIGHTS STARING OUT MY SECOND-FLOOR WINDOW AT THE SAME SCENE BELOW, WEEK AFTER WEEK, MONTH AFTER MONTH, YEAR AFTER YEAR… AFTER YEAR. EXCEPT FOR THE RAIN, IT NEVER CHANGES.”
A senseless crime and an admitted murder… and forty-four-years to freedom.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the author’s life story which includes FORTY-FOUR-YEARS incarcerated in Louisiana prisons. The first thing potential readers should be aware of… and don’t let the title fool you… is that Wilbert Rideau is guilty of murder. He openly admits it. But there’s a difference in being guilty of murder that is judged to be manslaughter as compared to being convicted of premeditated murder. Wilbert was nineteen-years-old in 1961 when he attempted to rob a bank in Louisiana. This was the Louisiana that was still influenced by the Klu Klux Klan and other openly racist behavior. It should be noted that this was not a well thought out… highly intricate bank robbing scheme. It was a spur of the moment… immature… ridiculously… stupid… robbery attempt. Wilbert took three bank employees’ hostage and left the scene in a car. He wound up killing one woman, Julia Ferguson. When Rideau was quickly caught his biggest fear was that he would be lynched… burned… and dismembered. When Wilbert went to court all the testimony was falsified which made the charge pre-meditated murder rather than manslaughter. His court appointed lawyers didn’t even cross examine. The verdict handed down was the death sentence.
The power and breadth of this story is not so much (though not minimizing the importance) the original maneuvers that changed the charges… but what the author lived through and shares from that point on. The next forty-four-years are spent in numerous prisons… with times in solitary confinement that broke records in their longevity… but the core… and very soul… of Wilbert’s life and story resides in the “LOUISIANA STATE PENITENTIARY, MORE POPULARLY KNOWN AS *ANGOLA*”… *THROUGHOUT THE MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY IT WAS KNOWN AS THE MOST INTIMIDATING PRISON IN AMERICA.* Wilbert arrived at Angola on April 11, 1962. As federal and state laws changed Rideau went on and off death row. His sentence changed from death to life. The reader is put right in the middle of Angola at its worst as an example “from 1972 to 1975, 67 prisoners were stabbed to death in Angola, and more than 350 others were seriously injured from knife wounds. The violence affected one of every ten prisoners, not counting those injured in fistfights or beatings with blunt objects.” Sexual perversion and rapes was far worse in actuality than portrayed in movies. “SLAVERY WAS COMMONPLACE AT ANGOLA, WITH PERHAPS A QUARTER OF THE POPULATION IN BONDAGE.” Every sexual act imaginable was performed with gang rapes an everyday occurrence. How bad was it at Angola? “EVEN IN MAXIMUM-SECURITY CELLBLOCKS, MEN TIED THEIR DOORS SHUT FOR AN EXTRA MEASURE OF SAFETY. SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST WAS THE ONLY LAW, AND FEAR WAS THE SUPREME RULER OF ALL.”
The penalty for being caught with a weapon was high… but being killed unarmed was worse. “THE ANGOLA INMATES’ CREDO: I’D RATHER BE CAUGHT BY SECURITY WITH A WEAPON THAN BY MY ENEMY WITHOUT ONE.” In the midst of this jungle the author found writing. And with his writing his incarcerated life was akin to a beautiful flower that somehow is able to grow and bloom through a miniscule crack in an obliterated cement street in an urban city. Thanks to some shining lights who became wardens at Angola such as C. Paul Phelps… who Wilbert dedicated this book to… and Ross Maggio, Jr. … among others… “The Angolite” the prison newspaper was allowed to be written and printed uncensored. This was unheard of in this environment. Wilbert’s writings gave hope to prisoners that had previously been hopeless… and made the world aware of Angola… and prisoner’s rights being denied and abused. Wilbert became famous… won awards… and was actually allowed to travel outside the prison to give speeches. Through it all… despite all the good that Wilbert achieved he could not get his sentence commuted. Whether it was Governors who lied to their constituents or parole board members being coerced or mandatory sentence laws being changed… Wilbert was forced to endure. Despite his inability to free himself… he continued to aid other inmates in their release. During this tortuous… endless… sentence… it is extremely interesting how powerful Wilbert became in dealing with inmates of varying factions… wardens… and the nations press. Along with the aforementioned wardens… Wilbert was also responsible “for there only being two killings in 1976 and one in 1977, and fewer than ten stabbings serious enough to require hospitalization.”
You will be taken on a painful prison journey that keeps detouring from hope… and learn along with Wilbert as “THE OTHER OCCUPANTS OF DEATH ROW TOLD ME NEVER TO LET AN ENEMY CATCH ME SITTING ON A COMMODE WITH MY DRAWERS PULLED DOWN AROUND MY ANKLES BECAUSE THEN I COULD NEITHER RUN NOR FIGHT”… you’ll share with Wilbert what demons you must battle when you spend *TWELVE-YEARS-IN-SOLITARY-CONFINEMENT*… when he says: “IT’S QUIET. PROFOUNDLY SO. RAIN WHISPERS AGAINST THE OPEN WINDOW A FEW FEET AWAY. THE ONLY OTHER THING YOU CAN HEAR IS YOUR OWN HEART, THUMPING. I’VE KNOWN MEN WHO COULD NOT STAND THIS SILENCE, BUT I’VE GROWN ACCUSTOMED TO IT. I SCRATCH A FINGERNAIL ON ONE OF THE BARS, TO REASSURE MYSELF I HAVEN’T GONE DEAF. I’VE STOOD HERE MANY NIGHTS STARING OUT MY SECOND-FLOOR WINDOW AT THE SAME SCENE BELOW, WEEK AFTER WEEK, MONTH AFTER MONTH, YEAR AFTER YEAR… AFTER YEAR. EXCEPT FOR THE RAIN, IT NEVER CHANGES.”
A senseless crime and an admitted murder… and forty-four-years to freedom.
June 11, 2017
I have not read a book quite so moving in some time. Rideu's story cut right to my heart and I won't say it was easy to read after coming home from doing what we do for a living. However, it's story that needs to be read, and read by many. If there was ever proof that everyone deserves a chance at redemption, this is most definitely it.
May 13, 2017
Eye opening and provocative. I also think he author owns up to his crimes, while presenting the atrocities within the system which makes it all the more compelling and believable.
June 30, 2023
I was somewhat nervous to start this book as I wasn't sure how I would feel reading a book by a convicted killer. Rideau never shies away from his guilt, however, only painting a picture of himself as a 19-year-old man who grew up in a family and segregationist environment that he was in in 1961 Louisiana. I was aghast at how the District Attorney so clearly manipulated his initial and subsequent trials that even though he killed that woman, the lack of justice in how he was handled was horrifying. The description of life in jail and then prison (at the infamous Angola prison) was incredibly interesting especially the evolution of changes that occur over the 44 years Rideau was behind bars. Once his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and he became a writer/editor of the prison magazine The Angolite, I was fascinated to see the role of a free press within the prison, especially with the support he got from the various wardens (at least until the final one with Burl Cain).
For anyone interested in reading about prison life, you probably can't get much better than this one.
I read this as part of my personal project to read Dayton Literary Peace Prize winners. This book was the 2011 Nonfiction Winner. Given the subject of a man who was unjustly imprisoned for as long as he was, I thought this was a perfect example of both increasing understanding between people and showing the consequence of people failing at that.
For anyone interested in reading about prison life, you probably can't get much better than this one.
I read this as part of my personal project to read Dayton Literary Peace Prize winners. This book was the 2011 Nonfiction Winner. Given the subject of a man who was unjustly imprisoned for as long as he was, I thought this was a perfect example of both increasing understanding between people and showing the consequence of people failing at that.
August 7, 2025
This one is far more complex that the book jacket description. Rideau is a talented writer who was born into an unjust time and place. The circumstances that lead to his crime don't justify the crime, but make condemning him also feel unjust. This is not a feel good story as he is a murder--he murdered a completely innocent person and fired his gun randomly into the dark hoping to kill his other hostages. He rages against the injustice of being locked up for far beyond the typical life sentence in Louisiana and to me it feels tone deaf towards his victim and her family. His tendency of praising the people who believe in him and work for his freedom and criticizing those that oppose him feels transparent. He is consistently arrogant. Yet, his resilience to make something out of his ruined life is remarkable. He's written with great skill about the experience of being a prisoner in Angola and has surely changed many lives and situations for the better. The way he writes about his life after incarceration and in particular his cat was moving. I didn't like the person, but I needed to hear his story and I'm glad I read his work.
May 23, 2019
A true, eye opening picture of race relations in the past and still in modern times. It provides an understanding of what the modern prison system is based on. It can be repetitive because what he was dealing with was repetitive injustice. But it is worth taking in that so you can understand how frustrated he deserved to be. How amazing it is that he never gave up hope. Its a story based on reality not on what would make a good story arc. This should be mandatory reading for every adult.
October 25, 2020
This was one of the best books I have read in a very long time. It spoke of the inequities of prison life in the south during the Jim Crow days. Wilbert Rideau managed to forge a life and shine a light on the "communities" in Angola, one of the most violent prisons. He became the editor of the prison newspaper which brought him respect from other inmates and wardens. I highly recommend.
June 14, 2017
Sadly I did not finish this book, which is rare for me as I usually persevere. It had a great start and hooked me in, however halfway through I just tired of it, it seemed so repetitive and harking on about the same issues time and time again. Just not for me.
February 12, 2018
In the Place of Justice: A Story of Punishment and Deliverance (Hardcover)
by Wilbert Rideau
by Wilbert Rideau
May 9, 2018
Rideau's memoir of his life in Angola prison between the 60s and 00s offers a unique perspective that should not be missed by those interested in prison reform or abolition.
April 16, 2019
Awesome, awesome awesome story
March 17, 2021
A beautifully written story of redemption. Rideau has a true gift and his life story is nothing short of amazing.
January 13, 2024
Finally finished this book that I started for psych and the law class. It’s a very detailed memoir spanning 60 years in the court system. Important read, a bit dense
May 24, 2025
If you read any book about prison - read this
September 10, 2013
This is the memoir of Wilbert Rideau who in 1961, at the age of 19, was convicted or murder of a white woman during a bodged bank robbery. Sentenced to death by a racially biased judical system, he was on death row at Angola, Louisana's notoriously violent penitentiary. He suffered years on death row and in solitary whilst appealing against his sentence, and was eventually resentenced to a life when in 1972 the US Supreme Court abolished the death penalty. While having only a ninth-grade education, Rideau starting reading extensively to pass time in solitary. After he was commuted to a life sentence, he started a prison magazine called The Lifer before being appointed as editor to The Angolite, the official prison publication, a job he retained the next 20 plus years. Reporting on the politics and economics in Angola, he won many prestigous press awards. This fame eventually worked against him as his appeals to be released on clemency, having served more than the required number of years for his crime, were repeatedly denied by the parole board. Rideau spent a total of 44 years in prison before he was finally released.
This is a story of resilience and courage, that anyone has potential to change, improve and turn their life around if they set their mind to it.
I rated the book a 3 only because there was a little too much details and it got a little long-winded at times.
This is a story of resilience and courage, that anyone has potential to change, improve and turn their life around if they set their mind to it.
I rated the book a 3 only because there was a little too much details and it got a little long-winded at times.
August 16, 2010
This was such an interesting, enlightening and baffling book. (Having read at least a few nonfiction books about life in the South in the 1960s, I don't question the accuracy of what is written. For one, I have to assume that a man who built great success and following in journalism for 25 years would be telling the truth.) I found myself wondering on so many occasions, "how could this have happened?" and "how could those people have been at peace with themselves for weaving such lies?"
It amazed me page after page that Rideau was met with adversity, slamming doors and horrific situations. But he continued to pick himself up and carry on. I can only hope to have a small part of his determination to make the best of things.
I found the last chapter the most compelling - While describing his keynote address at Cornell Law School (p333-335), Rideau's description of what it is like to be free again was very eye-opening, and reminded me of just how much we take for granted in our lives. In the same chapter, during the last pages of the book, he describes the final days of Willie B. It was not lost on me that Rideau had to do to his cat what he nearly had to experience himself while on death row. How utterly heart-wrenching that must have been.
It amazed me page after page that Rideau was met with adversity, slamming doors and horrific situations. But he continued to pick himself up and carry on. I can only hope to have a small part of his determination to make the best of things.
I found the last chapter the most compelling - While describing his keynote address at Cornell Law School (p333-335), Rideau's description of what it is like to be free again was very eye-opening, and reminded me of just how much we take for granted in our lives. In the same chapter, during the last pages of the book, he describes the final days of Willie B. It was not lost on me that Rideau had to do to his cat what he nearly had to experience himself while on death row. How utterly heart-wrenching that must have been.
November 21, 2013
Curses! I did not write a journal entry about this right after I read it! So now I have to write something rather more condensed because my memory is not that sharp.
I first heard of this book in an interview on the radio. Ordered it. I had not started it when I came across a companion book by someone who was also in the same prison with Wilbert, who worked with him on the prison newspaper for a time. Eventually there was some bad blood between the two, with the second accusing Rideau of selling out, essentially. I don't know if we will ever know the truth, but I suspect that Rideau did his best to keep the newspaper alive and the other person (I can't remember his name right now) had a tendency to see injustice everywhere. Not surprising for anyone caught up in this penal system.
Rideau's account of his time in various prisons is horrifying. Not only the time in prison but the trials he had to endure, the foregone conclusions. Even after he was finally exonerated from one charge he faced additional imprisonment on trumped up charges.
One lesson we learn: don't be black and be arrested in Louisiana. Clearly there are different rules there for different races. But his story goes beyond the race bias to indict the prison system itself.
Well-written and engrossing.
I first heard of this book in an interview on the radio. Ordered it. I had not started it when I came across a companion book by someone who was also in the same prison with Wilbert, who worked with him on the prison newspaper for a time. Eventually there was some bad blood between the two, with the second accusing Rideau of selling out, essentially. I don't know if we will ever know the truth, but I suspect that Rideau did his best to keep the newspaper alive and the other person (I can't remember his name right now) had a tendency to see injustice everywhere. Not surprising for anyone caught up in this penal system.
Rideau's account of his time in various prisons is horrifying. Not only the time in prison but the trials he had to endure, the foregone conclusions. Even after he was finally exonerated from one charge he faced additional imprisonment on trumped up charges.
One lesson we learn: don't be black and be arrested in Louisiana. Clearly there are different rules there for different races. But his story goes beyond the race bias to indict the prison system itself.
Well-written and engrossing.
September 8, 2010
This has to be one of the best written books of the year, an american literary treasure for sure. Rideau is something like a Melville, a Faulkner... maybe somewhere between Gore Vidal and Junot Diaz.
What I found the most interesting in his style is the portrayal of his characters. I was expecting Rideau to give malice, pettiness, calumny to some of his characters, I thought there would be simmering resentment splashing over into the plot creating a critical world: nope. Every character in this book is built with some kind of tragic august integrity. Subtle, but Rideau seems to honor those in his life by including them in his litary reconstruction whether they may have acted for bad or good. For example, I'm almost convinced that Bill Brown and Paul Maggio had to be more pernicious. But the overall effect gave the book a more meaningful message than conveyed by your typical autobiography that is usually pushing for posterity, austerity and vindication. This book was about the social-bonds that unite people together - and Rideau made those bonds sublime by springing them from the dirt.
What I found the most interesting in his style is the portrayal of his characters. I was expecting Rideau to give malice, pettiness, calumny to some of his characters, I thought there would be simmering resentment splashing over into the plot creating a critical world: nope. Every character in this book is built with some kind of tragic august integrity. Subtle, but Rideau seems to honor those in his life by including them in his litary reconstruction whether they may have acted for bad or good. For example, I'm almost convinced that Bill Brown and Paul Maggio had to be more pernicious. But the overall effect gave the book a more meaningful message than conveyed by your typical autobiography that is usually pushing for posterity, austerity and vindication. This book was about the social-bonds that unite people together - and Rideau made those bonds sublime by springing them from the dirt.
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