Grammy-nominated rapper Mystikal has been transferred to the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, widely known as the “Alcatraz of the South” . The 55-year-old artist, whose real name is Michael Tyler, will serve his 20-year sentence at the maximum-security facility after spending four years in Ascension Parish Jail while his rape case moved through the courts. Angola spans 18,000 acres and holds over 5,000 inmates, considered the worst of the worst in Louisiana’s penal system.
Mystikal will be housed in protective custody due to his celebrity status, a move that grants him a single-occupancy cell. The prison, built on the site of a former slave plantation, has a dark history dating back to the 1970s and 80s when it was infamous for inmate stabbings and deaths. Prisoners at Angola endure grueling manual labor under extreme heat, and the facility remains the largest high-security prison in the United States.
The rapper’s transfer comes after he pleaded guilty to third-degree rape in March under a plea deal that reduced the charge from first-degree rape, which carries an automatic life sentence. The victim told the court that Mystikal had punched her, choked her, pulled out her braids, and forcibly raped her at his Louisiana home in 2022. He faces a 20-year sentence with the victim urging the judge to give him the maximum allowed under the agreement.
Mystikal, known for his early 2000s hit “Shake Ya Ass,” previously served six years in prison after pleading guilty to sexual battery in 2003. He also faced rape and kidnapping charges in 2017 that were later dropped. His transfer to Angola, one of America’s most feared prisons, marks a significant escalation in his incarceration as he begins serving his sentence at the facility once known as the “Bloodiest Prison in America”.
