Father-Daughter Dance at Louisiana Prison, Special Comment

Center for Political Innovation Founder & Director Caleb Maupin gave this special comment December 4th, 2025:

“So, a video has been going around the internet about a father–daughter dance that took place at the Louisiana prison known as Angola. This video went around, and many were deeply moved by it — the fact that it is a tragedy that so many fathers are in jail, but yet, despite that, they still had an opportunity to bond with their daughters.

Now, there were some people who spoke up and said, “Why should taxpayer money pay for this?” And then it was pointed out that the ordeal was not paid for with taxpayer money. It was actually funded by the Christian Broadcasting Network. They paid for the event.

Some people looked on and they said, “Well, the Christian Broadcasting Network — they are notoriously pro-Israel, they are right-wing, they have an agenda.” If the Christian Broadcasting Network has some kind of other agenda, that’s between them and the Creator. At the end of the day, what they did was a very good thing, and it highlights the fact that the prison system of the United States is a pretty ugly thing. It’s one of the dark spots of the United States — the fact that we have so many people locked up in prison, many of whom should not be there, and the overwhelming majority of whom would not be there if they had better economic opportunities.

And it should also be pointed out that this prison in Angola was at one point a slave plantation. Pretty nasty place — it was pretty much a death sentence for a slave to be sent to. Now it is a large prison where many people are locked up.

While people on the so-called left might not approve of the Christian Broadcasting Network, a lot of their viewers are low-income folks of African-American heritage, and there is a lot of evangelical conservatism among African-Americans, particularly in the South, in Louisiana, where this prison is located.

Just saying that you’re aware of racism or saying that you’re aware of injustice doesn’t change people’s lives. It’s real action that changes people’s lives. And setting up this father–daughter dance at the Angola, Louisiana prison was a good thing. And I hope that more actions like this can take place, and that we can at the same time look at our prison system in the United States, which is something that we should not be proud of as Americans.”