Your very own community!

Burl Cain, warden of the infamous Angola Prison, encourages the offenders at his institution to live as they are living in a ‘community’. The following are our words, but adapted from in his book, Cain’s Redemption: (Warden Cain says something similar to those who live at Angola)

Your unit is like a city. The cells are the houses along the ‘streets’. The streets are the aisles in front of your cell. Three cells down is really 3 houses down in your community. The person living there is your neighbor. You should visit you neighbor, talk to each other, console each other, be concerned about each others well-being. Together you should keep your ‘city’ free of drugs, violence, and other illegal activity. Don’t steal from your neighbor. Go to church together. Don’t use profanity at each other. Once you start cursing each other, things can escalate quickly.

The typical prison culture is a ‘turn your head culture’. Live and let live; if it doesn’t affect me, then I don’t care. But crime in YOUR community DOES affect you! If you see someone dealing drugs on a street corner, don’t turn your head. Call the authorities, start a neighborhood watch group. Take action to rid your community of crime.

This is, in a big part, the philosophy of The Lighthouse. This is the girl’s community! This is where they live! They will be given the tools to make their community a safe and crime free community.