In the Place of Justice: A Story of Punishment and Deliverance
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Here is the remarkable life of Wilbert Rideau, an award-winning journalist who spent forty-four years in Louisiana prisons, worked against unimaginable odds to redeem himself, exposed a profoundly corrupt penal system, and fought to reform it.After killing a woman in a moment of panic duringa bank robbery, nineteen-year-old Rideau was improperly sentenced to death--a sentence later amended to life in the infamous Angola penitentiary. His insider's view is balanced and invaluable, 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 lived a more meaningful life in prison than do most outside, and we clearly see the roles his daring, tireless advocacy, his uncensored newsmagazine, The Angolite, and his own fierce, eloquent journalism played in civilizing a treacherous institution. But this book goes beyond the confines of a prison memoir, giving us...The New York Times - Dwight Garner…a soul-stirring account of one man's long road to redemption…Mr. Rideau brings his calmly appraising journalistic eye to this memoir. It is packed with incisive details…His account of life in Angola is an important one, especially in light of the dearth of good American prison writing in recent years…
