Born and raised in a bayou town in Louisiana, Sidney thought he had a good life with a family, a home, and a job with the U.S. Army Corps. But in the 1970s, he was arrested and convicted of rape. “My conviction carried a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.”
As the judge pronounced the sentence, Sidney stood there stunned. “I had never been to prison before … my life seemed to be over.” Despairing thoughts flooded his mind as he considered the fact that he would die in prison, never again to be active as a husband or a father. “While I stayed numb and speechless, I heard someone say that I was ‘trying to be strong.’ If they only knew; I had no strength at all.”
Afterward, reality set in. “I was going to Angola [Louisiana State Penitentiary], then the bloodiest prison in the country. I wondered if I would have to kill or be killed, but since I would spend the rest of my natural life in prison anyway, it didn’t seem to matter.”
