User:Madison Roy/sandbox

Key Elements of Proposal

Planned Work

I want to add more content regarding COVID-19 inside the penitentiary to the section "21st Century" under the "History" heading. The source that I plan to use is a ProPublica article which is already cited in the section. However, I feel that there are at least a few more key details that should be included to fully encompass the gravity of the COVID-19 epidemic within the prison.

I want to add a few sentences to the section "Inmate Quarters" under the "Composition" heading to explain how the buildings used to house prisoners are especially ill-equipped given Louisiana’s extremely hot climate.

I plan to add a section on inmate mental health to raise awareness of the types of struggles that individuals in Angola face–whether those are chronic or onset upon arrival at the prison. I will also discuss programs in place at Angola to address these concerns, as well as the effectiveness of these programs.

For a list of my sources, please view my bibliography.

Annotated Bibliography

1. Rubin, Anat, Tim Golden, and Richard A. Webster. “Inside the U.S.'s Largest Maximum-Security Prison, Covid-19 Raged. Outside, Officials Called Their Fight a Success.” ProPublica, June 24, 2020. https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-the-uss-largest-maximum-security-prison-covid-19-raged. This source describes the COVID-19 outbreak that occurred in Louisiana State Penitentiary in the early days of the pandemic. Many prisoners were denied care and forced to suffer, putting their lives at risk. This is relevant to my topic as it discusses extremely stressful conditions in the penitentiary.
2. Rogot, Eugene, Paul D. Sorlie, and Eric Backlund. "Air-conditioning and mortality in hot weather." American journal of epidemiology 136, no. 1 (1992): 106-116. This source discusses deaths related to lack of air-conditioning in extremely hot climates. This is relevant to my work in the "inmate-quarters" section, as it discusses ways in which the facilities fall short of what is necessary for individuals to survive and thrive.
3. Verderber, Stephen. Compassion in architecture: Evidence-based design for health in Louisiana. Lafayette: Center for Louisiana Studies, 2005. This source also discusses the importance of cooling in buildings in Louisiana, which is relevant for my section on inmate dorms because many of the buildings did not have air conditioning until 1990.
4. Antoine-Morse, Kristen. "Prison to school to redemption." COABE Journal (2019): 5-13. This source discusses how education in prison can help inmates have a more successful acclimation to after their release. This is relevant to my topic as it explores a possible way to help people manage their mental health during and after their time in prison.
5. Baker, Mark W. You Can Change: Stories from Angola Prison and the Psychology of Personal Transformation. Fortress Press, 2020. This source describes the lives of some former and current inmates at Louisiana State Penitentiary, as well as their changes in habits and lifestyles. It is relevant to my writing as it describes the psychology behind positive changes and how we can support them from a mental health perspective.
6. Evans, Carol, Ronda Herzog, and Tanya Tillman. "The Louisiana state penitentiary: Angola prison hospice." Journal of Palliative Medicine 5, no. 4 (2002): 553-558. This source describes what end of life care looks like in Louisiana State Penitentiary. I think it is relevant to my topic as it discusses how mental health is addressed in these types of scenarios.
7. Hallett, Michael, Joshua Hays, Byron Johnson, Sung Jang, and Grant Duwe. The Angola prison seminary: Effects of faith-based ministry on identity transformation, desistance, and rehabilitation. Routledge, 2016. This source discusses how faith can impact mental health and well-being in a prison setting. I think it is interesting and relevant to my topic as an additional lens through which to consider mental health interventions.
8. Hayes, Lindsay M. "Prison suicide: An overview and guide to prevention (Part 3)." Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention 16, no. 2 (1995): 63. This source describes methods and techniques for preventing suicides in prison. This is relevant to my topic as it addresses severe mental health issues in a prison setting.
9. Schetky, Diane H. "My Life in Prison." The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 44, no. 4 (2016): 479-482. This source discusses a first hand account of day to day life in prison. It provides a lot of perspective, especially from a psychological lens, as I develop the mental health section of this article.