Louisiana's Longest Imprisoned Murderers

Wilbert Rideau, "the most rehabilitated prisoner in America" (Life magazine, March 1993) has been confined longer than all but five murderers in Louisiana history. The longest confined Louisiana prisoner was Jesse Reyon, a 19-year old African American who was convicted of murdering a white man and was sentenced to death by a Calcasieu Parish jury in 1921. Because of testimony by "alienists" (psychiatrists) Reyon's sentence was commuted by the governor in 1921 to "Life in the Hospital for the Criminally Insane." An illiterate, Reyon languished there, forgotten and lost in the system, for nearly 50 years until he was given a Christmas furlough in 1970, when he went to a Lake Charles judge and asked for help in getting his freedom. A pardon was arranged for him and he was released in 1971. He is the only black man convicted of murdering a white person in Calcasieu Parish ever to be released from any institution.

The longest imprisoned murderers in Louisiana history are currently confined at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Only four have been imprisoned longer than Wilbert Rideau. The reasons why they remain at Angola are clear: two committed murder while in prison and two have been lost in the system, without the support and resources needed to get out.

Clifford Hampton was 16 when he killed his girlfriend. In 1959 he was sent to prison with a life sentence. Thrown into the violent and predatory "jungle" that Angola so notoriously was before the reforms of 1976, Hampton killed another inmate in 1961 who, he has said, tried to assault him sexually. He was given a second life sentence. In 1965 he was given an additional two years for "crime against nature" (having sex with a galboy, or punk).

Eugene Tanniehill was a 7th grade dropout when he was convicted of a 1960 murder during an armed robbery. He was given a life sentence plus 25 years for the murder/armed robbery, and an additional 4-1/2 years for three counts of forgery. Active for the past 35 years as an inmate preacher, he is known as the Bishop of Angola. He has never had a visit. All his relatives are dead. Until 1994, when he was "adopted" by a former prison guard, he was just lost and forgotten in the system. Bishop Tanniehill was one of 6 inmates featured in the award-winning, Oscar-nominated film, The Farm, which was co-directed by Wilbert Rideau.

Albert Wilson pled guilty to murder stemming from a domestic argument and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He arrived at Angola in November 1960 and has been there ever since. A stroke in 1965 left him paralyzed on his left side. He had pardon board recommendations in 1966 and 1983 that would have freed him, but the governors did not sign them. He is an only child whose parents are now dead. He hasn't had a visit in over 20 years. He has a good disciplinary record but no one to help him get out of prison.