Louisiana Voice

Controversy seems to follow Burl Cain around like misfortune followed Joe Btfsplk, that sorrowful, hapless character from the old Li’l Abner comic strip.

Joe Btfsplk

When Cain retired as warden of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, he did so under a cloud. His retirement came a month after an INVESTIGATIVE REPORT by the Baton Rouge/New Orleans Advocate that examined real estate deals, favorable treatment of certain prisoners, nepotism and questionable business relationships.

A STATE AUDIT cited a laundry list of irregularities, including:

• Failure of prison employees to take leave while working on Cain’s personal residence;
• Lodging and meals provided to members of Cain’s family;
• Prison labor refurbished iron gates from Cain’s personal residence;
• Public funds were used to purchase appliances and household furnishes for Cain’s residence;
• Angola prison rodeo revenue not deposited in state treasury or included in Department of Corrections budget;
• Rodeo concession sales revenues not deposited;
• Personal purchases and cash withdrawals made from Angola Employee Recreation Fund.

All the foregoing would be ancient history, of course, since the audit was issued in January 2017, nearly a decade ago.

Except, that is, for the fact that Cain, after his 2016 retirement, was named Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections in 2020, and controversy followed him from Baton Rouge to Jackson.

If one goes only by the MDOC’s WEB PAGE, Cain comes across as a benevolent correctional spiritual reformer who was the answer to the needs of the department. The reality, as it is in most cases, is somewhat different.

The Mississippi HOUSE CORRECTIONS COMMITTEE has taken up a series of legislative bills that address claims of denial of medical treatment, tens of millions of taxpayer funds in mysterious bank accounts that have “no accountability,” and rising fees from a prison farm program.

Cain was hired for the job by Mississippi GOV. TATE REEVES who said at the time, “I have absolute full confidence in Burl Cain’s ability to change the culture at the Department of Corrections. I have absolute confidence he will do so in a manner to make Mississippians proud. I have zero reservations about appointing him.”

Since he uttered those optimistic words, more than 300 people have died in Mississippi’s prisons with at least 50 of those being attributed to homicide, suicide and drug overdoses.

That cloud over Joe Btfsplk’s just doesn’t seem to go away.