Have you ever heard of Wilbert Rideau?

(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Wilbert Rideau who once offered “Conversations with the Dead” has been in the news a few times over the years. This week on CBS Sunday Morning he was back in the news and sounding so much better.

“My name is Wilbert Rideau. And I guess the best way to describe me is, I’m a very, very fortunate man.”

If few people recognize Wilbert Rideau as he jogs through the streets of his neighborhood, they may soon. This week, Rideau’s memoir, “In the Place of Justice,” will be released.

It’s likely to get people talking…

“I guess I should have been dead, and I’m alive, and I’m here to tell you about it – and I’m still amazed,” he said.

The title of the segment was “Life After Death Row.” Wilbert Rideau was a death row inmate for a murder he committed on February 16th, 1961 and he lived to talk about it. Because of that short period of time where the Supreme Court suspended the death penalty, he was spared and his sentence commuted to life. 44 years after a viscous and stupid act that took a woman’s life, he was set free.    

But 44 years was not rehabilitation enough for governor after governor. Even  “Life Magazine” calling Wilbert Rideau “the most rehabilitated prisoner in America” was not enough for the privileged elected. In 1990 Governor Buddy Roemer said, “Frankly given the nature of that crime, I’m not sure his debt’s been paid.”  

Since the United States now incarcerates a larger percentage of the population than any other nation, this has become an old story that is rarely addressed. It is the story of politicians that are out of touch with reality communicating their harsh judgments on the hustings and later legislating their heartlessness.

Looking at the life that Wilbert Rideau lived after that one heinous crime, that life that did not impress Buddy Roemer makes it sound like it is the system and the politicians that are in need of rehabilitation.

What did Wilbert Rideau do during his 44 years in Angolia Prison? During the ten years on death row he did the only thing he could do. Wilbert Rideau was a high school dropout with only books for company so he educated himself in the isolation of death row.

Once entering general population of the biggest maximum security prison in the country, he led a life that any rational man would call the picture of rehabilitation.  

He started an in-house newspaper called “The Lifer,” then began to write for outside publications, including “Penthouse.” Later, he became the first black editor of “The Angolite,” the prison’s magazine.

“I wanted to do good, I wanted to correct problems,” he said. “I wanted to correct misunderstandings between inmates and employers. And I wanted the public to understand the world because perhaps then, you know, they might be more conducive to change.”

In “The Sexual Jungle,” Rideau described in graphic detail the rapes and violence in prison.

“Conversations with the Dead” was the story of inmates all but lost in the system, still trapped behind bars even though they’d done their time.

“That got a lot of guys released, or a certain number of deserving prisoners released,” he said.

And for the first time, Rideau published horrific photographs of burns caused by a defective electric chair – a factor in prompting the state of Louisiana to instead execute all Death Row inmates by lethal injection after capital punishment had been reinstated.

“There are a lot of stories had impact, yes,” Rideau said. “Changed things, did things for people and helped people, and changed the way they did things in prison – and even got some laws changed.”

As his work became recognized and won awards, Rideau found himself in demand as a speaker. He was allowed to leave prison to give speeches and appear on television.

When the governor did not think that Rideau had “paid his debt” he was an accomplished and celebrated writer.

He’s a journalist who has appeared on “Nightline” and reported for National Public Radio. He co-directed a documentary, “The Farm: Angola, U.S.A.,” that was nominated for an Oscar.

How does a man say that “the most rehabilitated prisoner in America” has not yet paid his debt? More importantly, how many other old men who made a mistake as a young man are at the mercy of elected officials getting campaign contributions privatized prisons and parole boards corrupted by gerrymandering? Does accepting the highest percentage of population being behind bars come from politicians convincing voters that harmless old men are still a danger to society?  

We live in a nation where elected officials steer the public away from rehabilitation and cut vocational training while promising long sentences and “three strikes, you’re out.” We live in a nation where public opinion is often that prisoners can never again lead productive lives because politicians repeat that over and over.

But this story had a happy ending for Wilbert Rideau. This time the politician did not get his way. The people got a chance to speak and five years ago, on his fourth trial a jury found Wilbert Rideau guilty of manslaughter, not murder.Wilbert Rideau had already served more than enough time for manslaughter.

Now what about all the people who paid their debt but did not get famous enough so a jury of their peers would overrule the vindictive elected officials?