Life After Death Row

(CBS)  Stories of crime and punishment are just about the oldest stories there are. And whether the guilty can ever truly earn redemption sometimes defies a simple answer. Erin Moriarty of "48 Hours" has such a story:


"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.

At 68 years old, Rideau is 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.

But what makes Rideau's story worth noting is not just how far he has come, but where he began.

Wilbert Rideau was once on Death Row, condemned to die for killing a woman in 1961.

When asked how hard it was to write his memoir, he replied, "It was tough because I had to revisit all that again. I have to go all the way back to the beginning - I mean, the very beginning."

That means going back to the 1940s and '50s in the deep South, to Lake Charles, Louisiana, where Rideau grew up poor, a high school dropout.

Still, Rideau makes no excuses for what he did on the evening of February 16th, 1961. He robbed a bank.

"I chose to walk into the bank and rob it, yes," he said. "I didn't really choose for the rest to happen . . ."

In the courtroom where Wilbert Rideau was first tried almost fifty years ago, the jury - all male, all white - heard how he botched a bank robbery and then took three employees hostage. They drove to a remote spot outside of town.

"Things got out of hand. One woman jumped and, you know, she leapt out of the thing when we slowed. She leaped out of the car. And it just all went to hell."

"You shot at them? All of them?" Moriarty asked.

"Yeah. I just emptied the gun, you know, just because the rest of them was jumping out, too, and I'd lost control."

Julia Ferguson, a 46-year-old bank teller, was hit by a bullet and fell.

"In an instant she was getting up, and I grabbed the knife and stabbed her," said Rideau.

"What was going through your mind?" Moriarty asked.

"Nothing. Just sheer panic," he said. "You don't just stand there and think it out. I mean, this is all in a matter of seconds."

(CBS)

Rideau's entire confession was filmed by a local television station, and then aired. That pre-trial publicity would provide the grounds for a retrial, but it didn't change his fate.

"'Guilty as charged,'" Rideau recalled. "'Guilty' meant life sentence; 'guilty as charged' meant death."

Rideau was sent to Louisiana's Angola Prison, where he spent a decade waiting to be executed.

"For all practical purposes, I was born on Death Row, and I grew up on Death Row," he said.

Books were his only escape: "I started reading, and from there I just kept on reading. I read everything I could get my hands on. And the more I learned, the more I wanted to know."

He read Machiavelli . . . Ayn Rand . . .

"That's the only way I was able to survive that cell," he said.

After the Supreme Court suspended the death penalty in 1972, Rideau's death sentence was commuted to life. But while he no longer faced execution, moving into the general population at Angola had its own risks.

"It's dog-eat-dog, and the biggest son of a bitch wins," he said.

It wasn't called the bloodiest prison in America for nothing. Weaker inmates were "turned out" . . . the term for being raped and forced to become a slave.

"You're no longer defined as a male; you then become defined as a female, and you were the property of your owner, whoever raped you."

"How did you avoid being turned out?" Moriarty asked.

"When you stepped out of Death Row, nobody messed with you!" he laughed. "They left you alone."

Wilbert Rideau began writing about prison conditions.

"If you had given me paint and brush and an easel and canvas, I might have become a painter, but I didn't have any of that. All I had were a pencil, paper and books. And that's the way I learned to express myself."

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.

One night Linda LaBranche, a Shakespearean scholar at Northwestern University in Chicago was watching: :And I listened to him, and it sort of shattered all of my preconceptions about who was in prison."

LaBranche became part of a growing number of people supporting Rideau in his effort to win parole. But although "Life Magazine" called him "the most rehabilitated prisoner in America," governor after governor turned down his plea for release.

In 1990 Governor Buddy Roemer said, "Frankly given the nature of that crime, I'm not sure his debt's been paid."

But five years ago, following appeal after appeal, a jury disagreed.

Wilbert Rideau's fourth trial ended with a verdict of manslaughter, not murder. He was released for time served.

After 44 years, Rideau was a free man.

"I love it out here," he said. "I still don't feel like I quite belong out here. I don't have the sense of belonging that you have."

And for good reason, argues former District Attorney Rick Bryant, the prosecutor in Rideau's final trial.

"Wilbert has not paid for what he did," Bryant said. "Forty-four years may seem like a lot. I think he should have died in prison.

"He got his life back; Julia Ferguson's dead. Her family never got to have another birthday or a wedding, or a Christmas the rest of their life," he said.

"I caused the death of Julia Ferguson," Rideau said. "And, you know, it's something I've regretted ever since. But it's one of those things in life where you . . . you . . . sometimes you can't make things right.

"I know I've been the recipient of a lot of good fortune. I like to believe that it's all for a reason, that somehow or another I was chosen, so to speak, to live this long for a good reason. And that's because I believe in that, that's what I try to do."

"He has brought up issues I think are important," Bryant said. "I think he's a talented individual. Does that make him a reformed individual? Does that make him a remorseful individual? No. It's just he's shown a talent."

Linda LaBranche believes that Rideau has truly changed.

"I'm quite confident if I knew Wilbert when he was 19 years old, I would have crossed over to the other side of the street," she said. "But that's not the person I met. That is not the man I met. That's not the man I know. That's not the man that I fought for."

Rideau now shares his life with the woman who fought for his release.

"What made you marry him?" Moriarty asked.

"I married him first and foremost because I love him, and he's the best single human being that I've ever known on the face of this Earth," she replied.

But convincing others of that hasn't always been easy. As a convicted felon, Rideau has struggled to find work.

"There's an irony, isn't there, that actually you had more power and had more access to well-known individuals when you were in Angola than you do now that you're out," said Moriarty.

"That's true," Rideau said. "In fact, somebody recently asked me was there anything I missed, you know, not being in prison? And I said, 'Yeah, I miss being a big shot!' Out here, I'm just a nobody, you know?"

Rideau hopes his memoir will change that, that people will see a 68-year-old man not be defined by a single act, but rather the achievements of his entire lifetime.

But when asked if those achievement make up for the damage done to the victims, he responded, "You can't ever make up for it. There's some things that you are gonna do in life and that's wrong and you will never make up for it. All you can do is try to do better in the future."

"Do you think you have redeemed yourself for this horrific act almost fifty years ago?" Moriarty asked.

"I would like to think that. But that's not for me to decide. That's not for me to judge. I can't ever judge that. You judge that. The world will judge that. God judges that. Not Wilbert Rideau."


For more info:
wilbertrideau.com

[sinclair65]

Do journalists reviewing books have a responsibility to (1) read the books they review, (2) and, if so, report significant factual errors in the books, and (3) to truly analyze what the book author says in relation to fact and experience?

Wilbert Rideau, the famed prison journalist, recently published his memoir, In The Place of Justice (Random House 2010). The memoir is littered with serious factual errors and factual contradictions.

The memoir has been reviewed by The New York Times, Associated Press, and Rideau has been featured on CBS? Sunday Morning, NPR?s Fresh Air, and the Tom Joyner Morning Show to promote the memoir.
Not one journalist has either recognized the factual errors/contradictions or elected to report about them if they did.

I have recorded these factual errors and factual contradictions at www.wilbertrideau-realstory.com ? they are reported here, and here, and here, and here, and here.

The Rideau memoir raises serious ethical concerns for the nation?s media. The New York Times and other national media outlets devoted a great of coverage to transform Rideau from a convicted murderer into a celebrated convict editor during his incarceration in the Louisiana prison system. The famed prison journalist is now a free ?journalist? who has published his prison memoir with a $75,000 grant from The Open Society Institute of the George Soros Foundation as a ?visionary? in criminal justice. Ted Koppel endorsed In The Place of Justice as an ?extraordinary book.? But in the face of so many blatant errors and misrepresentations, is the memoir truly ?extraordinary?? And Is Wilbert Rideau really the ?visionary? in criminal justice The Open Society Institute said he is?

Media publications like should, I believe, be aware of these questions about Rideau?s memoir. Having read and dissected the memoir in ways that ?free world? journalist cannot, I have raised ethical issues about the memoir that should be in the public forum and subject to free debate. The issue is whether the national media are giving In The Place of Justice a ?free pass? because they are the ones who created ?the famed prison journalist.? In any event, the public should at least be aware of the ethical issues surrounding Wilbert Rideau?s memoir.

[mockingbird52]

I thought criminals weren't allowed to profit by writing about their crimes?

Wilbert Rideau is one more example of "life imprisonment" not meaning what you think it means.

In his own words from the fourth trial, "I didn't murder her; I killed her." Can you believe this?

[lessthannate16]

this is just another case of a ****** playing a race card
i feel he should be killed just like he killed the other inosent people he should get no right because for the years he was waisting his life and tax payers money to be feed and housed once a killer alwasys a killer he should die

[Nissusvii]

CBS: ?In the courtroom where Wilbert Rideau was first tried almost fifty years ago, the jury - all male, all white - heard how he botched a bank robbery and then took three employees hostage. They drove to a remote spot outside of town.?

??THE JURY - ALL MALE, ALL WHITE...,? carried no pertinent information, in context, other than a systemic sexist and racist bias against white males by CBS and its employees.

The implication is that something was wrong with the jury?s verdict. A statement like that is usually reserved for a thoroughly unfair, unjust, prejudiced and racist act by an all white male jury toward a black man. But here was a black man who, by his own admission, had attempted an armed robbery of a bank, had kidnapped three people at gun-point, attempted to murder three of them emptying his gun at them, had wounded one and then brutally stabbed and murdered that one when she got up. "In an instant she was getting up, and I grabbed the knife and stabbed her," said Rideau. Grabbed the knife? What? Did they jump out of the car and into a kitchen? Had CBS really wanted to gloss over Rideau?s act, they might have said that she was hit by an ?errant projectile.? I actually believe that CBS was attempting to give a relatively fair, though softened, account of Rideau?s life and crime. But that would make their ?jury? statement even worse; it was something they just had to say.

As true as that ?jury? statement may have been in a number of cases, the import of that statement, in this case, is that it turns itself on its own head and reflects a basic racist and sexist anti-white-male prejudice that is presently running rampant in this country. People of particular persuasions feel entitled to use statements like that with impunity. In this case, it was not merely superfluous; it demonstrated an ingrained bias that the employees at CBS were just unable to pass by.

[LiBirder]

I agree that the comment about the jury was put in there to give the perception that this man was done an injustice. Meanwhile, there was never any question he did this crime and he received an appropriate sentence. The injustice is that the original conviction was overturned and he was allowed to avoid finishing his original sentence.

[saoirse1458]

This piece opens up a much needed discussion. What is the role of prison confinement: rehabilitation or punishment? Further how Wilbur or any other cold-blooded murdered achieve redemption in this lifetime?

Certainly Wilbur has taken steps along the road to redemption by what he has achieved in prison, but I wonder at the depth of his inner convictions. Perhaps, I would be further convinced, if Mr. Rideau was using his life outside of prison and the proceeds from his book--as a vehicle of change. If the profits were going to help victims of similar crimes, or donated to a nonprofit agency that was doing good in the world, and if he himself was spending his remaining days dedicated to volunteering to help others in any way possible,then I might be convinced that redemption is at hand. But as it stands--the book is by him and for him---just as his decisions that put him in prison were by him and for him.

I for one, will not be reading this book.
http://www.bookreaderschronicle.com/

[LiBirder]

I was thinking along the same lines. First of all, any reforms brought about by Rideau was to benefit prisoners. Being in jail himself, it could be said that any good he has done so far has been self-serving. I was also under the impression there was a law that stated that criminals could not profit from their crimes. It further states that the profits should go to the victim's family. I hope this is what happens and that he not profit one penny from his memoir. I, too, will not be reading this book.

[careyturley]

i'm fairly certain he is no longer a threat, but should society take even a slight risk with a killer. look at how much he accomplished in prison. he could have continued to be productive and valuable while giving society and the victim's family total peace of mind.

[cherbert29]

I cannot BELIEVE that this repulsive killer was given a story on CBS Sunday Morning! As another poster stated, it was "glorification of a murderer."

It was chilling how he blandly he described his horrifying crimes, as though it was just something that kind of happened, as though he really didn't have any that much to do with it: "it all went to hell...I lost control." He said he emptied his gun, EMPTIED HIS GUN, into his victims out of "panic." No, he did that to kill ALL of them. And when it was evident that Julia Ferguson was still alive, he plunged a knife in her heart. To make sure she was dead. It was obvious that his intent was to take the victims somewhere and kill every one. To leave no witnesses. Why else would he kidnap them? He says he was just going to leave them somewhere, but I quite frankly don't believe anything this vile man says.

"I didn't really choose for the rest to happen"...he chose EVERY SINGLE BIT of it. He chose to kidnap the victims, shoot them and stab one of them to death. Those were his decisions. His choices.

So what if he can write? That doesn't atone for what it did. The only just atonement would have been for his execution to have been carried out.

Rideau is just one of those lucky killers who gets attention for writing, or artwork or their religious faith. A lot of very naive, bleeding hearts took him under their wing (he also plays the race card very well, claiming that he was a poor, mistreated black man) and now he's free. It's a scary thought that this man who seems downright soulless should be in some unsuspecting community.

Even some black leaders are umcomfortable with his release; his crime was so heinous and he seems to have no remorse at all, just wants to talk about how much HE was a victim.

He hopes his impending memoir will make him a "big shot" again. The egotistical creep.

His dopey wife is just another one of those unfortunate women who develop fixations on violent prisoners. Jeffrey MacDonald (the doctor and Green Beret who murdered his pregnant wife and two little girls) also has a deluded, adoring wife.

I was truly disgusted by this piece. What's next? A story about Leslie Van Houten, the Manson family killer whose supporters say she is completely rehabilitated and a very productive, nice person, so why not let her out of jail? Or maybe a story about Elmer Wayne Henley, who has been in prison since 1974 for helping Dean Corll kill and dispose of the bodies of at least 27 young boys. His artwork has been featured in gallerys; perhaps CBS Sunday Morning could do a feature on him and his burgeoning art career, hmmm?

I never thought I'd see this kind of trash on CBS Sunday Morning. I don't know if I'll continue watching it; I hate sympathetic stories about cold-blooded murderers.

[mockingbird52]

You are so right, cherbert129. Why don't you write a book? I'd rather read your book than read anything from Wilbert Rideau . "boo hoo, the penitentiary was so bad." It is supposed to be a bad place, Wilbert. That is the idea.

[janehoobler]

If you can't believe that a human being can repent, be redeemed, rehabilitated after 40 years, as a mature, aging man in his sixties for a terrible crime committed when he was only a teenager, then your heart is as cold as his was 40 plus years ago when he did what he did. You need to seek the warmth of forgiveness and of faith in your fellow humans.

[LiBirder]

My heart is with the innocent victims.

[maymari]

Actually it is needless to say that a person who has served more than 40 years for a crime has paid his debts to society. Look around in modern countries and you will not find anything like a death sentence or life without parole. There is no need for such a thing. First there needs to be no death penalty as it is not upon any human to rule over when someone has to die. And apart from that life without parole is also nothing that you find in our days in any other place. Because there is such a thing as second chances. No, the victim cannot get a second chance, that is true. But none the less a person can feel remorse and change to become a better person as can be clearly seen in Mr. Rideau's case. So why should he not have this chance to do something better, which he already did. He should receive credit for that. He has helped others to find justice and lucky he has found someone who fought for him. None the less it should become normal that people get a second chance and be eligible for parole after some time. It works in other countries and it would work in the USA. It would help to close down some of those prisons where this people have to spend the rest of their lives. There may be people you cannot rehabilitate but most people can be rehabilitated and many deserve a second chance. All the best for Mr. Rideau.

[LiBirder]

There are actually many modern countries that have life without parole sentences. Paying a debt to society includes taking responsibility for your actions. As I said before, I did not get that sense from the Mr Rideau. As you said - "it is not upon any human to rule over when someone has to die". This is what Mr. Rideau did. When the gun didn't kill his victim, he finished her off with a knife. This is intentional murder, not manslaughter.

[LiBirder]

This individual has still not taken responsibility for his actions. Although he admits to making the decision to rob the bank, as for the rest he states "I didn't really choose for the rest to happen . . ." .Didn't he choose to take hostages after committing a federal crime? What did he intend to do with these peoples? He shot all three when they decided to escape. When one fell, he proceeded to stab his hostage to death. How does this qualify as manslaughter? The act of taking hostages shows premeditation. He claims he felt "sheer panic" at the time. I can only imagine that the victims of his crime were far more panicked during that car ride and at being shot at while trying to escape. I can only imagine the panic Julia Ferguson felt, lying injured on the ground and seeing her attacker standing over her with a knife. It's nice that this murderer has been allowed to live up to his full potential, but Julia Ferguson was not allowed to live up to hers, or given the opportunity to live at all. He should have been allowed to do his good works from behind bars. I think an interview with the victims of this crime and the family of Jule Ferguson would have been appropriate. I usually love each and every story on CBS Sunday Morning, but this glorification of a murderer was very one-sided.

[mockingbird52]

"glorification of a murderer" not strong enough words. He has been put up for sainthood; probably be on the Nobel Prize list soon. The liberals are falling all over themselves to support him. Have you seen the ads for his book signings?