Criminal Justice professionals

"If any person deserves to come back into society, Rideau is that person."
- Alvin Bronstein, Director, National Prison Project, ACLU, Los Angeles Times, Jan. 4, 1989

"[Rideau] seems to be an extremely special case. This guy has been in there 40 years and made himself extremely useful to society. I can't imagine he would get out and start murdering someone again. As a prosecutor, I would not prosecute him. If I did it would be on a plea-basis for time served."
- Prim Smith, former First Assistant U.S. Attorney in New Orleans who prosecuted Mafia boss Carlos Marcello in the 1950s. Quoted in Gambit, March 13, 2001

"It has been my privilege to work professionally with Wilbert Rideau for 15 years. He has worked tirelessly to educate college students across America in the reality of prison life. As a journalist, author, and public speaker, Wilbert speaks the truth about criminal justice."
- Burk Foster, Professor of Criminal Justice, University of Louisiana--Lafayette, and co-editor, with Wilbert Rideau and Douglas Dennis, of The Wall Is Strong: Corrections in Louisiana, 3rd ed., quote submitted for the website March 25, 2001.

"Spared death against the will of the state, Wilbert Rideau taught himself to publish, to edit and to write with forceful grace about the conditions of people everywhere, and especially those in prison. Many have called the Angolite the best prison journal in America, but some of us find it one of the best magazines of any kind, giving voice to the views and hopes of prisoners who otherwise would have none. It describes injustices and hardships, joys and rewards for inmates, corrections officers, and people who care for them from outside the walls. The Angolite is a gift from the man who makes it happen. The time came long ago when it made no sense to continue to imprison Wilbert Rideau. By keeping him locked up, Louisiana has transformed Rideau into one of the nation's leading examples of punishment without purpose. A court's determination that the underlying conviction was unjustly obtained provides an opportune time for Louisiana to balance 40 years' imprisonment with an act of official reasonableness long overdue."
- Malcolm C. Young, Executive Director, The Sentencing Project, Washington, D. C., quote submitted for the website March 26, 2001.

"Wilbert Rideau's journalism is recognized internationally for its high quality and has brought home to many Americans the vast talent that lies behind our prison walls."
- Marc Mauer, author, Race to Incarcerate, quote submitted for the website March 28, 2001.

"I am very familiar with Mr. Rideau's work, and for the last eight years I have used Life Sentences as required reading in my senior-level Criminology course. Thus, I feel qualified to comment on his talents as a researcher and writer. Wilbert Rideau is highly-qualified to conduct criminal justice research. I believe he will bring to his current project a talent and dedication that very few academic scholars can match."
- Michael L. Radelet, Professor & Chair, Department of Sociology University of Florida and co-author, with two colleagues, of In Spite of Innocence, quote submitted for the website March 28, 2001.

"Wilbert Rideau has been the prisoner tour guide for hundreds of Criminal Justice students I've taken to Angola over the past decade. One student always sticks in my mind, however, when I think of Rideau's characteristic sensitivity and compassion. Mary was a basketball player, at least 6' 2" and 180 pounds. Nonetheless, she clung nervously to me when we passed through the prison gate. She wanted to know if all the men around us were prisoners, and when I told her yes, she seemed even more afraid. Rideau observed our conversation and came over to speak to her. "Do you know who I am?" he asked, and when she said "yes," Rideau told her: "I promise you, I will not let anything happen to you while you are in this prison." Throughout the tour, Rideau kept his eye on Mary, and whenever he saw that she was nervous, he curled his finger to tell her to come stand by him, and then she was fine. Mary had not been a very energetic student up to that point. However, I had some extra copies of Life Sentences on the bus, and Mary read the book all the way home, for four hours. What a superb teacher Rideau is. He is a friend and a colleague. He certainly does not need to be in prison."
- Marianne Fisher-Giorlando, Professor, Criminal Justice Department, Grambling State University, quote submitted for the website March 28, 2001.

"To retry Wilbert Rideau now, after forty years of imprisonment, would be a politically tawdry and morally mindless charade."
- Norval Morris, Julius Kreeger Professor of Law and Criminology, University of Chicago, quote submitted for the website April 12, 2001.