Daddy Daughter Dance In Angola - 12.02.25

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
According to CBS News, Louisiana State Penitentiary Angola has more
than sixty three hundred prisoners. An organization called God behind Bars,
which hosts other reunification events and religious services in prisons nationwide,
hosted the very first father and Daughter dance at the prison.

(00:20):
The prison picked up picked about thirty inmates to participate
due to good behavior and other deciding factors. A dance
space was set up in the prison's Bible College, and
the fathers wore tuxedos and cried as their daughters ran
up to them. For some prisoners, some of these prisoners
they haven't seen their daughters in month or some even years.

(00:42):
This was a night where they wouldn't be seen as
an inmate, but just rather as dad. Some prisoners said
they wanted to apologize for all the years they missed,
and the other inmates called the dance the most important
prison visit of their lives.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Wow. See those are important programs. Off of quite a
few of those online and stuff like that. I think
they're fabulous. Man. It gives the fathers a level of
dignity and a chance to look like a father in
the eyes of the daughter. It's such an important relationship
between a father and a daughter. It's just as important

(01:19):
as the father son relationship because that's where they learn
what a man's love is supposed to be like. So
I think it's a fabulous program. I think they need
to do more. Hats off to Angola, which is one
of the toughest, one of the toughest institutions reputation wise

(01:39):
in the country. Never been there, but Lord have mercy
and some of the way that they treat the inmates
the inmates is simply inhumane. I will say that about
Angola and a lot of other prisons too. But when
you see a program like this, this offers a lot

(01:59):
of hope. I'm involved in a prison program that I
started at the prison in Atlanta. The Federal prison in
Atlanta is started by the Coffee Bean Foundation, where I
donated a sum of money to provide fathers with twenty
five hundred dollars scholarships to give to their children for

(02:24):
things that children need on the outside. And the way
they do it is they have to apply for the
scholarship and like you know, like one of their children
may need to go to dance class. So one girl
wanted to go on this field trip to DC and
a mother didn't have the money. Well we found out
about it, and he wins twenty five hundred dollars scholarship

(02:47):
and he's able to send the money in his name
to his child for his child to participate in these activities.
And it's starting to really really catch on. And I'm
gonna after this first year here, I'm gonna do a
couple other prisons across the country with these guys. And
I spoke at the prison this year. I can't think
of the name of it. It's the Federal prison in Atlanta.

(03:10):
I can't think of the name. But it's very moving
time for men. I had a great time visiting with
the inmates and the guards and you know, shout out
to all the inmates out there. Man, that's that's just
that's that's just trying to do the right thing. Man.
A lot of good people make mistakes in this world.

(03:33):
And there was some great men behind them bars that
I met. There was some great officers in that who
cared about the men. You know, it's some good officers,
some bad ones, just like everywhere else. But for the
most part down there was they had a decent relationship.
So important, Hey, man, you can't throw men away and
women away because they locked up a lot of good

(03:56):
people make mistakes and then there's some innocent people back
there too. Now, yeah, a lot, and it's a whole
lot of it. Look, the Jim Crow law down in
Angola said that a person could get convicted without twelve
full jury members. So it's called a Jim Crow law
down in Louisiana. They got it overturned just recently, where

(04:17):
you have to be convicted by twelve any other part
of the world, if ten people say you're guilty and
too say you don't, that's a mistrial. In Louisiana, you
go to prison. Well, they tried to get it retroactive
to go back after they passed the new law in
Louisiana High Supreme Court turned it down. So these men
who were convicted by not full juries still had to

(04:41):
stay in prison. That's happening at Angola, and that ain't right. Man.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
You're listening to the Steve Harvey Morning Show.