I have completed 117 episodes so far about fascinating people doing important work.  But the journey of Howard Pernell Allen is as riveting as I have found.  You can hear my full discussion with him here.

0:38 1. You were born in 1964. In 1981 you were arrested and sentenced to Angola for murdering someone. You were sentenced to life without parole, probation nor suspension of sentence.

Judge John R Ballard when sentencing you said, “We’ve had in you in our juvenile facilities, now we’ve finally got you. All your dreams, hopes and goals are over. I sentence you to life. I confine you for the rest of your life to hard labor.”

Talk to me about your early childhood and life. What put you on this initial path that led to you being at Angola?

3:06 2. I’ve read that the death of a childhood friend altered your life. Talk to me about this and how you ended up working for Warden Burl Cain.

8:00 3. In 2000, Time Magazine came to do a story on Warden Cain. While doing the story, the Time Magazine reporter had your food. They wrote about it and wrote some about your story. Tell me about this.

15:13 4. You served 22 years at Angola. What happened on Christmas Day 2003?

20:00 5. I don’t want to spend too much time on this next question but tell me about your time with the next Louisiana Governor, Kathleen Blanco.

22:48 6. Tell me about some of the work you are doing now and some of the different work you have been doing since being back in Shreveport.

25:05 7. I have two more questions. The first is as follows:

What do you attribute your ability to be rehabilitated to compared to most of the people you met while in Angola?

29:45 8. Do you have any advice on how we do a better job with our reentry work here in Caddo Parish and any guidance on how we work with the 1500 people at CCC in a safe way?