Louisiana State Penitentiary

===Musical references===
{{More citations needed section|date=August 2010}}
The prison has held many musicians and been the subject of a number of songs. Folk singer [[Lead Belly]] served over four years of his attempted murder sentence and was released early from Angola for good behavior. [[Tejano music|Tex-Mex]] artist [[Freddy Fender]] was pardoned from there.

The song "Grown So Ugly" by American blues musician and ex-convict [[Robert Pete Williams]] references Angola. The song's lyrics have some basis in fact, as Williams was imprisoned there and was officially pardoned (from a murder charge) in 1964, the year the song says that he left the prison.

The classic New Orleans song "[[Junco Partner]]" includes the lines:

{{poemquote|Six months ain't no sentence, and a year ain't no time
They got boys down in Angola doin' one year to ninety-nine}}

In [[the Clash]]'s version of "Junco Partner", the lines are a little bit different:

{{poemquote|
Singing six months ain't no sentence, and one year ain't no time
::I was born in Angola, servin' fourteen to ninety-nine}}

[[Aaron Neville|Aaron]] and Charles Neville wrote "Angola Bound":

{{poemquote|
I got lucky last summer when I got my time, Angola bound
Well my partner got a hundred, I got ninety-nine, Angola bound
}}

Angola also features in the [[Neville Brothers]] song "Sons and Daughters" on the album ''Brother's Keeper''.

[[Folklore|Folklorist]] [[Harry Oster]] recorded "Angola Prison Worksongs" for his [[Folklyric Records]] in 1959, now re-released on [[Arhoolie Records]]. According to Oster, between 1929 and 1940, 10,000 [[flogging]]s were carried out in Angola.

Singer [[Gil Scott-Heron]] wrote and recorded the song "Angola, Louisiana" on his 1978 album with [[Brian Jackson (keyboardist)|Brian Jackson]], ''[[Secrets (Gil Scott-Heron album)|Secrets]]''. The song deals with the imprisonment of inmate [[Gary Tyler]].

Canadian blues and roots musician [[Rita Chiarelli]] filmed the documentary ''Music from the Big House'' at Angola in 2010. The film, directed by [[Bruce McDonald (director)|Bruce McDonald]], focuses on a concert at the prison, organized by Chiarelli, that featured four bands comprising musicians incarcerated in Angola.

Comprising the entire B-Side of his album ''[[Remedies (Dr. John album)|Remedies]]'', New Orleans musician [[Dr. John]] features an extended 17:35 song titled "Angola Anthem".

Singer-songwriter [[Myshkin (singer)|Myshkin]] recorded "Angola" in 1998 for her album ''Blue Gold''. The song refers to the case of former Angola warden [[C. Murray Henderson]], who was sentenced to 50 years in prison for the attempted murder of his wife, writer Anne Butler:

{{poemquote|
Release me from this life I will seek my punishment
On the other side but the judge said
"Warden in cold blood you shot your poor poor wife
You're going back to Angola, there your hell to find"
}}

New Orleans rap artist [[Juvenile (rapper)|Juvenile]] has part of a verse in the [[Hot Boys]] song "Dirty World" that says:

{{poemquote|
They'll plant dope on ya, go to court on ya
Give ya 99 years and slam the door on us
Angola, the free man bout it, he don't play
Nigga get outta line, ship 'em to camp J
}}

New Orleans pianist [[James Booker]] mentions Angola prison in his cover of "[[Goodnight, Irene]]"; where he was sent for heroin possession:

{{poemquote|
Lead Belly and little Booker both, had the pleasure of partying,
on the pon de rosa, *laughs* you know what I mean, you dig?
Yeah, on the pon de rosa, you know, down in Angola
where they have boys doing from one year to ninety nine
}}

(As Booker was less than 10 years old when Lead Belly died, they would not have been there at the same time.)

[[Ray Davies]] has recorded a song entitled "Angola (Wrong Side of the Law)", which was released as a bonus track on the expanded release of ''[[Working Man's Café]]'' in February 2008.

The American folk singer [[David Dondero]] in the song "20 years" describes the experiences of a prisoner released from Angola prison:

{{poemquote|
All I got on me, is my Angola prison I.D.
Ain't a place in this whole damn city willing to hire me
It's been twenty years
}}

Jazz trumpeter [[Christian Scott]] has a track on his 2010 album ''[[Yesterday You Said Tomorrow]]'' called "Angola, LA & the 13th Amendment"

Texas Country Music artist, [[Sam Riggs]] of Sam Riggs and the Night People (Austin, Texas) wrote and recorded a song called "Angola's Lament". It was released in 2013 on the ''Outrun the Sun'' album.

American folk rock duo [[Indigo Girls]] reference Angola in the song "The Rise of the Black Messiah" from their 2015 album ''[[One Lost Day]]''.
{{poemquote|
Hey ol’ man river, what do you know
Bout plantation they call Angola?
The devil spawned a prison there
The saddest farm that ever lived}}