Guards, aided by dogs and horses, forced prisoners to work. Outside of prison, vagrancy laws compelled African Americans to work at low paying jobs, c.1900. Credit: Andrew Lytle. Courtesy of: Merle R. Suhayda, ed., A Lifetime’s Devotion: Through the Eyes of Photographer Andrew D. Lytle 1857-1917, CD-Rom (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000)

Prisoners picking cotton echo a connection between slavery and the convict lease system, though prisoners worked many other jobs as well, c.1900. Credit: Andrew Lytle. Courtesy of: Merle R. Suhayda, ed., A Lifetime’s Devotion: Through the Eyes of Photographer Andrew D. Lytle 1857-1917, CD-Rom (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000)

Separating the sexes for work at Angola was one of the ways prison management shaped and exploited notions of gender and sexuality, c. 1950s. Credit: E.J. Diet. Courtesy of: Louisiana State Penitentiary Museum

Despite the prison’s attempts to isolate and polarize incarcerated residents, prisoners found ways to congregate and collaborate to promote change in the prison, c. 1960s. Credit: E.J. Diet. Courtesy of: Louisiana State Penitentiary Museum

Having a job lined up was a requirement for parole, but how has Angola prepared prisoners for life on the outside? c. 1960s. Credit: E.J. Diet. Courtesy of: Louisiana State Penitentiary Museum