On February 20, 2003, the National Park Service listed the Red Hat Cell Block on the National Register of Historic Places as #03000041. Demographics Louisiana State Penitentiary is the largest correctional facility in the United States by population. In 2010 the prison had 5,100 inmates and 1,700 employees. In 2010, the racial composition of the inmates was 76% black, 24% white. 71% of inmates were serving a life sentence. 1.6% had been sentenced to death. As of 2016 many inmates come from the state of Mississippi. As of 2011 the prison has about 1,600 employees, making it one of the largest employers in the State of Louisiana. Over 600 "free people" live on prison property. These residents are Angola's emergency response personnel and their dependents. In 1986 around 200 families of employees lived within Angola property. Hilton Butler, then Angola's Warden, estimated that 250 children lived on the Angola property. Many prison employees are from families that have lived and worked at Angola for generations. Laura Sullivan of National Public Radio said "In a place so remote, it's hard to know what's nepotism. There's simply no one else to hire." Operations As of 2011 the annual budget of the Louisiana State Penitentiary was more than $120 million. Angola is still operated as a working farm; former Warden Burl Cain once said that the key to running a peaceful maximum security prison was that "you've got to keep the inmates working all day so they're tired at night." In 2009 James Ridgeway of Mother Jones said Angola was "An 18,000-acre complex that still resembles the slave plantation it once was." Angola has the largest number of inmates on life sentences in the United States. As of 2009 Angola had 3,712 inmates on life sentences, making up 74% of the population that year. Some 32 inmates die each year; only four generally gain parole each year. Louisiana's tough sentencing laws result in long sentences for the inmate population, who have been convicted of armed robbery, murder, and rape. In 1998 Peter Applebome of The New York Times wrote, "It's impossible to visit the place and not feel that a prisoner could disappear off the face of the earth and no one would ever know or care." Most new prisoners begin working in the cotton fields. A prisoner may spend years working there before gaining a better job. In Angola parlance a "freeman"