S4|E1: Escape From Angola

Summary

Gone South - Season 4, Episode 1: "Escape From Angola"

Host: Jed Lipinski
Release Date: October 2, 2024
Podcast Series: Gone South
Producer: Audacy Podcasts

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Introduction

In the premiere episode of Season 4, Gone South, host Jed Lipinski delves into the riveting true story of Jimmy Cox, a man whose life is a testament to resilience and transformation. Unlike previous seasons that focused on limited series within Southern crime narratives, Season 4 adopts an anthology format, presenting standalone stories each week. This episode, titled "Escape From Angola," chronicles Jimmy Cox's harrowing escapes from the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola, and his remarkable journey towards redemption.

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Background: Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola)

Jed Lipinski sets the stage by providing a vivid description of Angola Prison, emphasizing its grim history and formidable reputation:

"Louisiana State Penitentiary sits on 18,000 acres just south of the Mississippi border. The prison is better known as Angola because the land it occupies used to be a slave plantation, and a majority of the people enslaved there were taken from the West African country of Angola." (04:24)

Angola has long been labeled the bloodiest prison in America, notorious for its violent conditions and impregnable security measures. Surrounded by the Mississippi River and dense swampland, escape attempts are rare and often fatal, with harsh punishments for those who dare to flee.

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Jimmy Cox's Early Life and Descent into Crime

Jimmy Cox’s tumultuous background laid the groundwork for his life of crime. Growing up on Chicago's north side in the 1950s and 60s as the second youngest of twelve children, Jimmy was exposed early to criminal activities:

"When we were little kids, we used to break into the freight trains... stealing a half a train car full of beer. And you gotta figure I come from the area where you see gangsters walking around, nice clothes, diamond rings, driving nice cars, having nice women." (06:24)

His father's ties to the Chicago mafia and his early involvement in hustling and criminal enterprises shaped Jimmy into a skilled getaway driver by his early teens, earning him significant sums of money even as a juvenile.

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Life at Angola and First Escape Attempt

In 1976, Jimmy was sentenced to Angola, arriving during a period when the prison had recently earned its notorious reputation. His first impression of Angola was one of utter despair:

"When I got there... I noticed a dude was laying on the walk, all stabbed up and people were just stepping over him. What I thought I'm in the jungle." (14:35)

Determined to escape, Jimmy spent four years meticulously planning his breakout. His initial strategy involved faking an injury to gain access to Charity Hospital within the prison. Utilizing numbing drops and a makeshift knife, he managed to free himself from handcuffs by convincing a guard to loosen them. After donning a fellow inmate’s clothes, Jimmy fled Angola but was eventually captured in Kentucky, earning him an additional seven-year sentence for the escape attempt.

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Second Escape and Return to Angola

Undeterred, Jimmy spent another year and a half on the run before making a second attempt to escape Angola in 1982. This time, his plan was more calculated:

"Once again, I had smuggled a knife into the hospital... I took the knife to his throat and told him, I don't want to hurt you. I just want to go home." (20:14)

Despite a violent confrontation that resulted in the guard being stabbed, Jimmy successfully escaped by leaping from a window onto the fire escape and exiting through a side entrance. However, his freedom was short-lived as he was swiftly apprehended in New York after an escape attempt there led to his identification and capture.

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Transformation and Rehabilitation

While serving his extended sentence, Jimmy underwent a profound personal transformation. Attending educational programs in Kentucky, he earned a paralegal degree and pursued studies in addiction counseling. A pivotal moment in his rehabilitation was his relationship with a prison psychologist, who helped him process childhood trauma:

"She was the very first person since I was 11 years old that I told that story to... It was a major breakthrough for me." (23:29)

Jimmy also overcame a long-standing addiction to heroin and PCP, finding solace and purpose in helping others through addiction counseling. His dedication earned him the status of a trustee, granting him special privileges within the prison system.

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Impact of Hurricane Katrina and Public Recognition

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck, severely impacting the Washington Correctional Institute (WCI) where Jimmy was serving time. Despite the chaos, Jimmy and fellow trustees played a crucial role in disaster relief, assisting in repairing infrastructure and distributing supplies to affected communities:

"Every day I would go out to the FEMA area... It brought joy to my old heart to see the happiness and thankfulness of people." (30:37)

Their efforts garnered national attention, with the Wall Street Journal featuring Jimmy on the front page under the headline "Warden's Chainsaw Gang." This recognition highlighted the positive changes within the inmate community and Jimmy’s role in fostering rehabilitation.

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Post-Release Life and Legacy

Released in 2006, Jimmy embarked on a new life, securing employment in offshore construction and eventually founding Phoenix Ministries, a prison reentry program aiding former inmates in transitioning back to society. His story of redemption not only inspired those around him but also bridged gaps between former adversaries, as evidenced by his friendship with Darryl Van Oyt, the former warden of Angola.

Jimmy’s journey from a violent escapee to a community helper underscores the potential for personal change and the importance of supportive rehabilitation programs. His legacy is one of hope, demonstrating that even those with tumultuous pasts can find their path to redemption.

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Notable Quotes

• Jimmy Cox on the thrill of escaping:

  "I don't know if you can even fathom it, but it's a big thrill when you successfully escape incarceration. It's indescribable, man. Better feeling than any narcotic I ever had." (04:29)

• Jimmy reflecting on trauma and trust:

  "So therefore, I felt that I should never trust a soul. And it was the catalyst to put me on. If I felt that you were a threat, I was gonna eliminate you first. Because I wasn't gonna let you eliminate me." (08:29)

• Jimmy on transformation and helping others:

  "You hurt people all your life, and then all of a sudden, you get an opportunity to help. I feel like I'm on a mission in a sense, you know, man, to show people that, hey, you know, no matter how screwed up you were, you can be better." (32:52)

• Jimmy on his life coming full circle:

  "I was telling someone the other day that I've come full circle. I got out of prison right there, and Now I'm within 20 miles of the prison and I'm enjoying life laying up in the state park in a $40,000 camper. Got a beautiful lady. I mean, it's full circle, you know?" (34:48)

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Conclusion

"Escape From Angola" is a compelling narrative that not only recounts the dramatic escape attempts of Jimmy Cox but also illustrates the profound personal transformation possible within the prison system. Jimmy's story serves as a powerful reminder of the capacity for change and the significance of second chances, embodying the humanistic insights that Gone South seeks to uncover in its exploration of Southern-themed crimes.

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Contact and Feedback

For information, story tips, or feedback, listeners are encouraged to contact the Gone South team at gonesouthpodcastmail.com.

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Note: Advertisements, promotions, and non-content sections present in the transcript have been excluded to focus solely on the narrative content of the episode.

Transcript

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[Jed Lipinski]

Hi, I'm Jed Lipinski, the host of Gone South. I wanted to share a quick note before we begin. If you've listened to previous seasons of Gone south, then you might be expecting another limited series. Eight episodes covering one story. But in season four we're doing things a little differently. Each episode will contain its own standalone story and we'll probably do some two part episodes here and there. We'll be releasing new episodes with new stories every week indefinitely. In other words, more episodes, more stories, more Gone South. We hope you enjoy the show and thank you for listening. If you ever have a chance to visit the Louisiana State Penitentiary, and I hope you don't, you'll notice something unusual on the way in. Right outside the front entrance, there's a gift shop, a prison gift shop. They sell various trinkets and posters and you could even walk away with a T shirt. A T shirt with a picture of the prison entrance and a caption underneath that reads, a gated community. Louisiana State Penitentiary sits on 18,000 acres just south of the Mississippi border. The prison is better known as Angola because the land it occupies used to be a slave plantation, and a majority of the people enslaved there were taken from the West African country of Angola. The plantation became a prison in 1880, but an outside observer would have noticed almost no change. Inmates lived in former slave quarters. They worked the fields just as slaves had. They lived short and brutal lives. Conditions hardly improved in the 20th century after a plague of murders, stabbings and sexual assaults got the attention of the press. In the 1960s, Angola was named the bloodiest prison in America, and it was almost impossible to escape. Angola is surrounded on three sides by the Mississippi River. It's hemmed in on the other by dense, snake infested swampland. Guards patrol the grounds on horseback armed with 12 gauge shotguns. Its layout is devilishly complex. Multiple outbuildings, barriers and sniper towers are designed to prevent escapes. Even if an inmate did escape, they often drowned in the Mississippi's rushing currents or succumbed to exposure or got bitten by a rattlesnake. And according to those who tried, a failed escape could be a fate worse than death. The punishment for escaping included months, if not years in solitary or what inmates called the dungeon conditions. One visitor in the 1970s described as medieval. And yet in the 1980s, one inmate successfully escaped from Angola not once, but twice.

[Jimmy Cox]

I don't know if you can even fathom it, but it's a big thrill when you successfully escape incarceration. It's undescribable, man. Better feeling than any narcotic I ever had.

[Jed Lipinski]

I'm Jed Lipinski from Odyssey Podcasts. This is Gone South. In this episode, I'm going to tell you the story of Jimmy Cox. You won't find any books, podcasts or movies about Jimmy. His story has never been told. At least not in that way. I met Jimmy during the making of gone South Season 2, about the Dixie Mafia, a loose knit group of criminals who roamed the south in the 60s and 70s. If you listened to that season, you probably remember a guy named Kirksey Nicks Jr. Unlike Jimmy, Kirksey is an infamous criminal. Some people believe he was the leader of the Dixie Mafia, though Kirksey disputes that. He's been locked up for over 50 years. When we were making that season, I had trouble getting in touch with Kirksey. For months, my letters to him went unanswered. Then I got an email from a guy named Jimmy Cox. Jimmy said he was a close friend of Kirksey's dating back to the mid-70s, when they'd served time at Angola together. He told me Kirksey would be willing to speak with me if I spoke with Jimmy first. A week later, I was talking with Kirksey Nicks. Jimmy made only a small appearance in season two of our show, but I thought his personal story was worth telling. I used to be a crime reporter for the times picayune in New Orleans, and I'd been to Angola before. It was hard to imagine how someone could escape that place and live to tell the tale. We'll get there, don't worry. But first, I want to tell you a little bit more about the escape artist. Jimmy Cox grew up on the north side of Chicago in the 50s and 60s. The second youngest of 12 kids. His father had ties to the Chicago mafia. So did some of his older brothers. He started hustling at a young age.

[Jimmy Cox]

When we were little kids, I can remember, we used to break into the freight trains, and one time we broke in, one was full of beer. We had beer stashed all over the neighborhood, different places, you know, and we didn't drink all of it, you know, but it was just fun to do it. We stole a half a train car full of beer. And we're little kids. I'm talking about 9, 10 years old, probably. That was our mentality. And you gotta figure I come from the area where you see gangsters walking around, you know, nice clothes, diamond rings, driving nice cars, having nice women. So that's what you aspire to.

[Jed Lipinski]

When he wasn't robbing freight trains, young Jimmy shined shoes at a local social club where his father's friends hung out.

[Jimmy Cox]

A bunch of old Italian guys hung out in there and everything. Well, I was allowed to go in and shine the shoes for them. That was my turf.

[Jed Lipinski]

One of the gangsters who hung out at the club was a guy named big Polly.

[Jimmy Cox]

Well, Big Paulie was the boss, and he'd sit in his barber's chair and I'd shine his shoes. And when I'd get through, he'd reach in his pocket and pull out his big old roll of money. And whatever bill was on the top, he would hold it over his shoe, and if he could see his reflection, he'd give it to me. So I was shying the shit out of those shoes. One day I was down there shining them, and the dude reached over my shoulder. Shot four or five times in the head. The old men hustled me out of there and told me, don't tell nobody nothing. Just go home. I remember I used to keep my shoeshine box in the basement. And they had a big wash tub down there. And I went down there and I washed the blood out of my head. I mean, there was stuff everywhere. It traumatized me. I ain't too proud to say that.

[Jed Lipinski]

Jimmy says he never told anyone, including his dad, about what he'd seen. He figured the guy who shot Paulie must have known him well enough to walk straight into the shop unaccosted.

[Jimmy Cox]

So therefore, I felt that I should never trust a soul. And it was the catalyst to put me on. If I felt that you were a threat, I was gonna eliminate you first. Because I wasn't gonna let you eliminate me.

[Jed Lipinski]

Jimmy dropped out of school in sixth grade. He says he learned to drive by stealing cars. By his early teens, he'd developed a reputation as a solid getaway driver.

[Jimmy Cox]

These guys were going to do a bank job. They wanted three stolen cars. And they wanted me to place them at certain spots for them, right? Switch cars, they call it. And I told them, I'll do the driving. I was like 14 years old and made $17,500. Was a lot of money back then. A whole lot of money.

[Jed Lipinski]

It was a whole lot of money. About $170,000 today. In the late 60s, when Jimmy was in his early 20s, he moved to Hollywood, where his father ran protection rackets for the local mob.

[Jimmy Cox]

You know, Chicago people run la.

[Jed Lipinski]

Jimmy and his friends did errands and odd jobs for him and his associates.

[Jimmy Cox]

One day my dad told me, so I want you to take your crew and go bust this Chinese restaurant up right at lunchtime when it's most busy. He said, just pull up front, go on with some baseball bats. Don't hurt nobody if you don't have to, he said, but break shit up. Cause the dude wasn't wanting to pay his street tax. So we jacked a limousine, pulled a limousine right up in front of it. About four of us bailed out of it with baseball bats, went inside, started breaking up tables and generally causing chaos and scaring the heck out of people. And the guy got his mind right and started paying his taxes.

[Jed Lipinski]

Before long, Jimmy was an established player in la. He bought a small nightclub near the corner of La Brea and Sunset and named it the we spelled o U I after the adult magazine of the same name.

[Jimmy Cox]

It was a place where hustlers could come in there at the end of the evening. I had the cops paid off. You could buy cocaine right there at the table, little glass vial for 100 bucks and they'd bring it to you right with your drinks, you know. And it was a place for hustlers and thugs and gangsters to hang out and be comfortable in la.

[Jed Lipinski]

Jimmy developed an addiction to heroin and pcp and he had plenty of run ins with the law. He was arrested for armed robbery, assault and car theft, among other things.

[Jimmy Cox]

Yeah, it's hard to remember but you know, cause I'd go to jail sometimes three times in one week.

[Jed Lipinski]

But Jimmy always avoided significant jail time until 1975 when he was sent to New Orleans to do a job. Jimmy told me what happened next. It's a harrowing story, but he didn't want to go into it on the record. Suffice it to say, the cops tracked him down in LA a year later and charged him with robbery and two counts of first degree murder. Jimmy's days as a flashy LA gangster were over. He was given two life sentences without the possibility of parole. And since Jimmy's crimes were committed in New Orleans, those life sentences would be served at the Louisiana State Penitentiary.

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[Jed Lipinski]

When Jimmy arrived in Angola in 1976, it had only recently been dubbed the bloodiest prison in America. He remembers his first day inside.

[Jimmy Cox]

When I got there and I'm walking to chow, I noticed a kind of a low traffic jam down there because it's a long, long walkway you have to walk on. You have to walk maybe almost a quarter of a mile to the chow hall. When I got up to where the traffic jam was happening, I noticed a dude was laying on the walk, all stabbed up and people were just stepping over him. Wouldn't paying him no mind. Wasn't seeing if he needed, you know, help if he was dead or what. So that set the stage for me right there.

[Jed Lipinski]

And what did you think when you saw that?

[Jimmy Cox]

What I thought I'm in the jungle.

[Jed Lipinski]

Oddly enough, it was probably the safest time to be an Angola inmate. In the prison's hundred year history, between 1969 and 1974, 53 prisoners were murdered by other inmates. The federal government responded by instituting a series of reforms. But Jimmy wasn't impressed. And besides, he had only one goal in mind when he arrived. Your plan was always to escape, right?

[Jimmy Cox]

Oh yeah. No human being is supposed to be confined. I don't even put my dogs in cages. My main focus was on trying to get away. But we're sitting on an 18,000 acre farm surrounded by the Mississippi on one side and the Tunica hills and panthers and bears and rattlesnakes on the other side. So I knew I had to do something with a little more finesse to it than just trying to run through the bushes.

[Jed Lipinski]

Jimmy knew the stories of other men who tried to escape. In 1975, the year before Jimmy showed up, four men escaped after taking a prison guard hostage and shooting another with a smuggled.22 caliber pistol. But bloodhounds for the prison's chase team quickly overtook them. Two of the men surrendered and were told to lay on the ground. According to one of the survivors, a guard executed them both with a submachine gun. The guard was never charged with a crime. Jimmy spent his first four years at Angola debating different escape strategies. Then he found one he liked.

[Jimmy Cox]

One day I was on the yard, and I walked up on these friends of mine talking, and they were talking about this guy that had just escaped from Charity Hospital in New Orleans. And I asked him, I said, well, how the hell he do that? And they said, well, they don't even hang. They just shackle you to the bed and leave. Jimmy. I said, well, hell, I'm out of here. How do you get there? They said, well, he cut his eye. So I went and I tried to cut my eye. I even paid a guy to do it, and it didn't work. So I came back, did a little more research, and I got into the gray's anatomy to see where I could mess with it without messing it up. And I got these little medical drops that numb your eye. Had a dude stick a needle in it.

[Jed Lipinski]

The first part of Jimmy's plan worked. He was sent to Charity Hospital in New Orleans for treatment. He smuggled in a makeshift knife, plus a key to open the handcuffs the guards on duty used. But when he tried to open the cuffs, the key didn't work. So Jimmy improvised. He asked the guard on duty to loosen the handcuffs, claiming they were cutting off his circulation. Then he slipped out of them. When the guard left, he took his neighbor's dirty clothes out of the hamper, put them on, and waited.

[Jimmy Cox]

So after I got out of the handcuffs, I got his clothes and put them on. I was laying underneath the covers, fully dressed, a knife in my pocket, waiting to leave. But they had this older lady that was always real nice to me, and she came by and told me, says, jimmy, I hate to see a nice young man like you locked up like this, and it's just not right. I said, well, you know, mom, I got the funniest feeling, and I'M not going to be locked up all that longer, you know. Soon as she left to go to the other ward, I was gone.

[Jed Lipinski]

Jimmy spent the next year and a half on the lam. He moved from city to city, couch surfing, laying low. When he got back to la, he moved in with a woman he dated years earlier. He didn't realize the feds had gotten to her first.

[Jimmy Cox]

I went by her house, and they had feds in the house, outside the house, up in trees and everything else, I reckon. Cause they was everywhere.

[Jed Lipinski]

Jimmy returned to Angola in 1982. His first day back, he ran into.

[Jimmy Cox]

The warden and he said, well, well, well, we got Jimmy Cox back with us. And I said, yeah, what happened, man? He said, what do you mean, what happened? I said, you guys are supposed to be protecting me. And two people come in and kidnapped me out that goddamn hospital, man. And he started laughing, you know, and he said, well, I'll tell you what, I'm gonna send you someplace where you ain't gotta worry about nobody kidnapping you. And he sent me straight to Camp J.

[Jed Lipinski]

Camp J was the prison's solitary wing, Angola's equivalent of a supermax. It was two years before he was released back into the prison's general population. And yet, less than a month later, Jimmy found himself back at Charity Hospital in New Orleans with another eye injury. As he told it, he'd poked himself in the eye. When Angola's medical staff changed over, they.

[Jimmy Cox]

Knew, but, I mean, they weren't in with the nuts and bolts of what had happened before, you know?

[Jed Lipinski]

But this time, the staff at Charity were more vigilant.

[Jimmy Cox]

Before, they had guards just come every two or three hours and check on you, right? But since my last escape, they started putting what they call a sit down with you. That means they have a guard sitting at the bed with you.

[Jed Lipinski]

Once again, Jimmy had smuggled a knife into the hospital. At one point, he told the guard he needed a shower, and the guard obliged.

[Jimmy Cox]

And when he went down to take my shackles off my feet, and I put the knife to his throat and told him, I don't want to hurt you. I just want to go home. I really didn't want to hurt the old man, you know, he tried to fight. So I wound up stabbing him about 13 times. I think they said what saved me from killing him. I hit him one time in the chest, and I come in for the kill shot, but he had stuck both hands up, over right, hit him at. And the knife went through both hands, and it didn't have enough blade to Penetrate any vital organ. Which was fortunate for me because I'd have been a dead cracker right now. They'd have executed me.

[Jed Lipinski]

This time. Jimmy jumped out a window onto the fire escape, then exited the hospital through a side entrance. Less than a month later, he said he found temporary employment in New York.

[Jimmy Cox]

In August of 84, I was sitting in the Bergen Hunt and Fish Club in Queens enjoying a beer with a very infamous person.

[Jed Lipinski]

Can you say who that infamous person was?

[Jimmy Cox]

Gotti.

[Jed Lipinski]

That's Gotti. As in John Gotti, head of New York's notorious Gambino crime family. Jimmy said he worked for John Gotti's crew for a few months before relocating to Kentucky after getting captured in la. He figured he'd try to hide out in a small town. But Jimmy wasn't the type to stay cooped up in his house all day.

[Jimmy Cox]

Yeah, I'm driving a brand new El Dorado with New Jersey license plates on it. And then I had this little hot chick, she's wearing fur coats and shit. I was asking for it.

[Jed Lipinski]

According to Jimmy, a nosy agent from the Kentucky Bureau of Investigation suspected him of robbing a local bank, which he claims he didn't do. Either way, he came home one day to find himself surrounded again.

[Jimmy Cox]

They had the state police, the FBI and all them other idiots. When I seen them, I took off running. The dude jumped off a balcony and landed on my neck and stuck a little. One of them little mini 14s in my mouth, said run now, run now. I said, well, get the gun out of my mouth, bitch, and I'll run. He didn't take it out of my mouth though.

[Jed Lipinski]

At the time, Jimmy was carrying an ID that identified him as James Aloysius Adams iii. The cops assumed he was just a local gangster. They didn't realize they had a two time escapee serving a life sentence at Angola. After a preliminary hearing, they made the mistake of taking Jimmy out of the courthouse without handcuffs or shackles. He punched the jailer in the face and ran off. But in small town Kentucky, he was captured after just a few hours.

[Jimmy Cox]

You know them country towns, man, they was all on me like white on rice.

[Jed Lipinski]

Jimmy got seven years at the Kentucky State Penitentiary for the escape attempt. Luckily, it was nothing like Angola.

[Jimmy Cox]

When I went to Angola the first time, I was functionally illiterate. I could write you a note, put all the money in this bag, you know. But I couldn't write a formal letter. While I was in that prison in Kentucky, they were real pro education. I wound up getting a college degree A paralegal degree, and I was working on addiction counseling degree.

[Jed Lipinski]

Jimmy met a prison psychologist who helped him process the trauma he'd experienced as a kid, specifically Big Paulie's murder.

[Jimmy Cox]

She was the very first person since I was 11 years old that I told that story to. She worked me through it. She told me, sis, you can't gauge your whole life based on one incident. We had a lot of conversations and a lot, you know, it wasn't something that happened overnight, but it was a major breakthrough for me. It was like kind of shedding a whole lot of weight.

[Jed Lipinski]

A few years into his sentence, a close friend overdosed on heroin that he and Jimmy were using together. Jimmy had been using heroin off and on for over 20 years, he says, but he quit soon after.

[Jimmy Cox]

I just asked God a simple thing. I said, God, I don't know how to pray, but I'm just asking you to just relieve me of this addiction. I started shooting heroin in 66, Jed. That was a long run. You know, I haven't touched narcotics. I have a Louisiana medical marijuana card, but I haven't touched any real narcotics since then.

[Jed Lipinski]

Jimmy changed while incarcerated in Kentucky. He got an education. He got clean. He found a purpose in addiction counseling. But in 1993, his sentence in Kentucky came to an end. Jimmy was shipped back to Angola, back to the bloodiest prison in America, where he was due to spend the remainder of his natural Life. Feel your Max with Brooks running and the all new Ghost Max 2. They're the shoes you deserve. Designed to streamline your stride and help protect your body. Treat yourself to feel good. Landings on an ultra high stack of super comfy nitrogen infused cushion that takes the edge off every step, every day. The Brooks Ghost Max 2. You know, technically they're a form of self care. Brooks. Let's run there. Head to BrooksRunning.com to learn more.

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[Jed Lipinski]

When Jimmy returned to Angola in 1993 after 11 years away, he found it relatively unchanged. He, on the other hand, felt like a different person. The change surprised many of his old pals.

[Jimmy Cox]

I got back To Angola. I kind of didn't get high anymore. A lot of guys were disappointed when I come back, because when they see me, they said, oh, man, good. We had some good dope now. I said, no, I don't mess around no more, buddy. And people couldn't believe it because my life had taken on a whole different lane, so to speak.

[Jed Lipinski]

Not long after his return, director Steven Soderbergh shot a scene from his film out of Sight Inside Angola. The film follows the story of a charming bank robber played by George Clooney, who escapes from prison and kidnaps a U.S. marshal played by Jennifer Lopez. In the scene, George Clooney is planning his escape with other inmates in the chow hall. According to Jimmy, Soderbergh wanted real life Angola inmates to appear in the scene. Angola's warden recommended Jimmy, maybe thinking his multiple escapes would bring some realism to it.

[Jimmy Cox]

Warden Van Oyt picked me and told me, he said, jimmy, we need you to go over there and sit at that table where George Clooney and the other two actors are going to be sitting, because we don't want to put one of these idiots over there. That would embarrass us. So I said, okay, Boston. I went over there and I didn't even know who Clooney was. I remember asking fan, oh, I said, who the hell is this guy? He said, he played Batman, you know, like I go to the movies, you know. So the director told me to say, just talk about whatever you would talk about while you're at chow.

[Jed Lipinski]

As he described it, Jimmy brought a little too much realism to the scene. He suggested some graphic things they could do to the warden before running off the scene, didn't make the final cut.

[Jimmy Cox]

And then afterwards, they might have had a little problem from the legal department or whatever, you know, because Clooney told me, said, man, that was good.

[Jed Lipinski]

And what'd you say to Clooney?

[Jimmy Cox]

I tell him I'm always good.

[Jed Lipinski]

Despite his supporting role in a George Clooney movie, Jimmy was not happy to be back. But rather than plot a third escape attempt, he put his new paralegal degree to work. He began researching ways of getting his murder conviction overturned. He filed an appeal for post conviction relief, noting that before his murder trial in the mid-70s, he'd been denied a competency hearing despite the fact that he was addicted to heroin and pcp. The New Orleans DA was overwhelmed with caseloads at the time. Rather than retry Jimmy's murder case, the DA allowed him to plead guilty to attempted robbery instead. The charge carried a 40 year sentence. Instead of life as part of the deal, Jimmy's murder convictions were wiped from his record. He'd always assumed he would die at Angola. Now he found himself with less than 10 years left to serve. Jimmy stayed at Angola until 1998 when for good behavior, he was transferred to a number of medium security prisons, including Washington Correctional Institute, or WCI in the town of Bogalusa. At wci, Jimmy applied to become a trustee. The inmates who get special privileges like getting to leave the prison grounds under supervision. Based on his two prior escape attempts, his request kept getting denied. So Jimmy finally appealed to the warden himself.

[Jimmy Cox]

I went and caught the war warden named Jim Miller. I told him, I said, man, look, I'm trying to make trusty. I said, I go home in a couple years. I just want to be able to get a little scene of what's happening out there so I ain't going out in a complete haze. And I said, I haven't had a write up in 10 years. I said, I don't even own a knife. If I wanted to escape, I escaped from Angola twice. This would be like opening up a tuna fish can here. And he said, I tell you what, Jimmy, you write me a note and tell me. He says, check out my file. Per our conversation this morning, I did that. Next week I was on reclass and made trusty.

[Jed Lipinski]

A few years later, Jimmy was in his cell when he and other inmates got word of a massive storm brewing in the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Katrina made landfall the next day. WCI was hit hard. The storm knocked down the prison's 10 foot high perimeter fence. H VAC systems were blown off the roofs. Fallen trees made the road into the prison impassable. If there was ever a time to escape from prison, this was it. Instead, Jimmy and a dozen other trustees braved the wind and rain to weld the H VAC system back into place. As the storm subsided, they cleared the main roads in the parish with chainsaws. They drove forklifts and distributed food and water to people whose homes had been destroyed.

[Jimmy Cox]

Every day I would go out to the FEMA area and I'll be honest with you, man, it brought joy to my old heart to see the happiness and thankfulness of people. They didn't see us as prisoners. They saw us as people that was right there trying to help them.

[Jed Lipinski]

The story of prison inmates providing hurricane relief made national news. Reporters gravitated to Jimmy.

[Jimmy Cox]

Well, the Wall Street Journal and a whole bunch of other news outlets interviewed me. And the Wall Street Journal had my picture on the front page of his newspaper.

[Jed Lipinski]

After we spoke, I looked up the Wall Street Journal article. Sure enough, there was Jimmy on the front page beneath the headline warden's chainsaw gang. A few days later, I called him to ask about the article. The RV park he was staying at didn't have wifi, so I taped the call on my phone.

[Jimmy Cox]

How you doing, man?

[Jed Lipinski]

Hey, Jimmy, how's the camp?

[Jimmy Cox]

Oh, it's nice. I love it up here, man.

[Jed Lipinski]

It had been years since he'd seen the Wall Street Journal article, so I read him an excerpt from it. As you said in the article is a beautiful statement. Here, I'll read. I have it right here. This is your quote. I've been a thug since 1966, and this feels good, said Mr. Cox, a brawny, tattooed, 53 year old quote. When people come up and you look in their faces and see all the sadness, and then they thank you, like you're the only one giving this stuff to them. Talk to me about that.

[Jimmy Cox]

Well, it was basically just being out in society and being able to help, you know, for so many years, I was just locked away, shunned away. Thinking about this shit even brings tears to mind.

[Jed Lipinski]

Yeah, I can imagine.

[Jimmy Cox]

You know, it felt good to be able to help. You know, you hurt people all your life, and then all of a sudden, you get an opportunity to help. And I follow that tradition still. I get stuck out and messed over helping people, but I'm not giving up. I feel like I'm on a mission in a sense, you know, man, to show people that, hey, you know, no matter how screwed up you were, you can be better. You can come out here, no matter how many years you do in prison and succeed.

[Jed Lipinski]

And that's what Jimmy did. When he was released from prison in 2006, a friend helped him find work doing offshore construction on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. He got his first legal paycheck at 54 years old. A framed copy of the paystub hangs on his living room wall. Jimmy went on to become a safety consultant for the offshore industry. In his spare time, he created a prison reentry program called Phoenix Ministries. It helped former Angola inmates transition back into society. Inside the prison, Word got around of Jimmy's success on the outside. Angola's former warden, Darryl Van Noy talked about Jimmy's transformation at a conference put on by the American Correctional Association. So after speaking with Jimmy, I reached out to Darryl. It turned out the two of them had known each other for almost 50 years. Daryl was a young prison guard at Angola when Jimmy first showed up in the mid-70s.

[Jimmy Cox]

When Jimmy got there, he continued to live that criminal life. When he was young, he was a real deal. He was a real gangster. You know, he was a real.

[Jed Lipinski]

But Van Noy had watched Jimmy rehabilitate himself. When he got out, the two of them stayed in touch, and they eventually became friends.

[Jimmy Cox]

He's my friend. Yeah, I consider him a friend. After he discharged, you know, he never returned to prison, never violated again, and he put his life of crime behind him. And I would welcome him as my neighbor.

[Jed Lipinski]

Yeah, you would.

[Jimmy Cox]

If he moved in next door, I'd be proud to have him.

[Jed Lipinski]

Jimmy cox retired in 2020. He lives with his fiance and three dogs in Lafayette, Louisiana. But when I spoke to him last, he was unwinding in a state park not far away.

[Jimmy Cox]

I was telling someone the other day that I've come full circle. I got out of prison right there, and Now I'm within 20 miles of the prison and I'm enjoying life laying up in the state park in a $40,000 camper. Got a beautiful lady. I mean, it's full circle, you know? Jed.

[Jed Lipinski]

If you have information, story tips, or feedback you'd like to share with the Gone south team, please email [e-mail] that's gonesouthpodcastmail.com Gone south is an Odyssey original podcast. It's created, written and narrated by me, Jed Lipinski. Our executive producers are Jenna Weiss Berman, Maddie Sprung Keyser, Tom Lipinski, Lloyd Lockridge, and me. Our story editors are Maddy Sprung Keyser and Tom Lipinski. Gone south is edited, mixed and mastered by Chris Basil and Andy Jaskiewicz. Production support from Ian Mont and Sean Cherry. Special thanks to J.D. crowley, Leah Reese, Dennis Maura Curran, Josephina Francis, Curt Courtney, and Hilary Schoof. If you want to hear more of Gone south, please take a few seconds to rate and review the show. It really helps.

[Jenna Fisher]

You might think financial crime is all about money, but sometimes it ends in murder. I'm Nicole Lapin, host of Money Crimes, a crime house original podcast. Each episode features a thrilling story about the dark side of finance and how to protect yourself from it. Follow and listen to Money Crimes and Odyssey podcast in partnership with Crime House Studios. Available on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts.