A brief escape: A rare father-daughter dance offers joy to prisoners and their families

A rare moment of grace broke through the concrete bars of Louisiana State Penitentiary also called Angola this month when guards and organizers hosted the facility s first-ever father-daughter dance giving incarcerated fathers and their daughters a night of music tears and reconnection Nearly inmates selected for good behavior donned tuxedos with pink boutonnieres and waited as daughters selected dressed in formal gowns were led into the prison s Bible college transformed into a makeshift dance hall Fathers and daughters embraced under string lights and drapes as Stevie Wonder s Isn t She Lovely played a song created by Wonder originally for his own daughter For countless it was a moment decades in the making One of those men serving time for armed robbery stated the reunion brought a rush of memories Seeing her in a dress crying and running to me that broke me down For several daughters the night marked the first time they d danced with their father a bittersweet reminder of lost birthdays prom-nights and graduations Start your day with essential news from Salon Sign up for our free morning newsletter Crash Program Organized by the nonprofit God Behind Bars the dance did more than offer a photo-op It offered a glimpse of humanity behind the prison walls Organizers and prison agents called the event a anticipated new tradition for Angola The largest maximum measure prison in America has a rough past previously known for its history with enslaved people and harsh sentences and as America s Bloodiest Prison It was also the setting for the popular book and movie Dead Man Walking But in the past two decades it has rehabilitated itself to include incentives for good behavior like an annual rodeo an inmate-run radio station and magazine a -hole golf program and recreation area on site and life skills training for careers like cook firefighter and mechanic and in graphic communications For one night the inmates were not labeled by their conviction They were just fathers reconnecting with daughters they feared they d miss out on forever Read more about the prison system Unlocked A Jail Experiment things we learned from Netflix s free-roaming detainees experiment In PA county jails guards use pepper spray and stun guns to subdue people in mental dilemma It s too freaking hot Dozens die in Texas prisons with no air conditioning amid record heat wave The post A brief escape A rare father-daughter dance offers delight to prisoners and their families appeared first on Salon com