Life Sentences: Rage and Survival Behind Bars

Convicted murderers Rideau and Wikberg began contributing articles to the Angolite , the best-known prison newspaper in the U.S., shortly after receiving life sentences in the 1960s. From the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, the newspaper's editor-in-chief Rideau (once a death row inmate), associate editor Wikberg and other inmates write with grace, detail and well-balanced insight about Angola's history (musicans Leadbelly and Charles Neville have been confined there), sexual assault, prison politics, death in prison and procedures of prison executions. Articles in the Angolite have won the George Polk and other journalism awards. Editors' notes usefully update these pieces, first published between 1978 and 1990. Photos not seen by PW. (July)