In the 18th and 19th centuries,  Angola was a thriving slave plantation. After the Civil War, the labor force was made up of convicted felons offered to plantation masters in exchange for maintaining their upkeep. After the turn of this century, Angola was officially converted into a prison, yet very little changed - free labor which was originally provided from the sweat of an entirely black and slave population was then taken over by a mostly black and convict population. Today, it is still lovingly referred to as "the farm," and the income from the fruits of a free labor force still keep it running.

Warden Burl Cain, a truly extraordinary individual who has, unlike most people in corrections, granted unequalled access into his prison to share what it's like to run a massive 'lifer' prison. He describes his philosophy for running a peaceful prison: "you've got to keep the inmates workin' all day so they're tired at night". And so it goes: each morning, five days a week for the rest of their lives, thousands of men, 80% African American, head out to the fields, hoes and shovels in hand, with overseers on horseback and rifles at their side. Nothing much has changed on this plot of land over the last 200 years. The filmmakers worked closely with Wilbert Rideau, inmate editor of THE ANGOLITE MAGAZINE, the nation's only non-censored, inmate-produced magazine. Sentenced to death for the murder of a bank teller in 1962, Rideau's sentenced was converted to life in 1972 when the United States Supreme Court put a temporary halt to the death penalty. In the past 26 years, Rideau, a self-educated 8th grade dropout, has gone on to transform the ANGOLITE into a nationally acclaimed, award-winning journal, read by inmates and professionals alike. Rideau, co-director of THE FARM, worked closely with Garbus and Stack to select characters, providing access and insight rarely achieved in prison films.

There are over 2,000,000 prisoners in America today and the number is growing daily. Five thousand of them are living out their lives at Angola. Eight-five percent of those who enter the gates as young men, will die in Angola.