ICE opens detention center at Louisiana's notorious Angola Prison: and a dark history returns
Critics are questioning the decision to hold immigrants at the maximum-security facility known as Angola, which has a troubled and racist history.
The Trump administration has opened an immigrant detention center at one of America's most notorious prisons, raising serious concerns about human rights and the troubling echoes of historical injustice. Let's call it what it is: an internment camp at best, a concentration camp at worst.
From plantation to prison to immigration internment
According to reporting by Rick Rojas in The New York Times, ICE has begun housing immigrant detainees at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola. As of Wednesday, ICE had interned 51 male detainees at the facility. It plans to expand capacity to over 200 by month's end and up to 400 people after that.
The choice of Angola is particularly disturbing. Founded in 1901 on the grounds of several former plantations—including one eponymously named Angola where white platners enslaved people and forced them to raise cotton, corn and livestock—the prison has long been synonymous with brutality and racial oppression.
A violent and exploitative legacy
Angola's racist origins are inseparable from its operational history. The prison initially forced mostly Black inmates to work in the same fields where enslaved people had labored decades earlier. The continuity from slavery to convict labor to mass incarceration represents a continuous chain of racial control and exploitation.
The facility became known as "the bloodiest prison in the South" due to recurring violence and deplorable conditions. In 1951, more than 50 inmates slashed their own Achilles tendons in protest of the brutal conditions and forced field labor—a desperate act that speaks to the depths of suffering inmates endured.
The detention center will occupy "Camp J," one of Angola's most restrictive units. Inmates languished in solitary confinement there for 23 hours daily in conditions described as "dungeon-like." The facility closed in 2018 due to deteriorating conditions and safety concerns.
"The worst of the worst"
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said the facility would house the immigrant "worst of the worst," claiming authorities will "consolidate the most violent offenders." Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described detainees as "high risk" individuals convicted of serious crimes including murder and sexual assault.
Given ICE's track record of sweeping up law-abiding U.S. citizens and legal immigrants, this we should consider this bullshit of the highest order. Data shows many ICE arrestees have no criminal convictions or charges. So who will actually be thrown into this maximum-security facility.
Disturbing parallels
This decision represents a troubling continuation of Angola's history targeting marginalized populations. Just as the facility once exploited Black bodies for agricultural labor, it now serves as a tool for immigration enforcement against predominantly Brown and Black migrants.
Officials have dubbed the detention center "Louisiana Lockup," part of a pattern of giving immigration facilities ludicrous nicknames they think sound tough. They acknowledge hoping Angola's notorious reputation will deter undocumented immigrants from remaining in the country. Let's see how that goes.
Transforming a former plantation into an immigrant internment camp for those seeking refuge in America sadly aligns with our history. The administration has weaponized the legacy of historical racial oppression for current racial oppression—all in the name of immigration enforcement.
Non in cautus futuri.
