When the warden at the 942-bed state prison in DeQuincy called a late-afternoon meeting of top staff, workers thought it was a send-off for an assistant warden who was retiring that day.
The warden's secretary, Carol Lee Fruge, tells the American Press that was when warden Robert Henderson told staffers he had just learned the C. Paul Phelps Correctional Center would be closing.
Closing has been discussed before, but employees say there was no indication it might happen.
Kenny Naquin estimates that $1 million in improvements have been completed in the past 18 months.
Workers say they've been given little information about how layoffs will occur. They say they've been told that 92 security jobs will be available at Angola.