Cain was reared in
Pitkin in
Vernon Parish in western
Louisiana. He is the brother of James David Cain, a former
Republican member of the
Louisiana House of Representatives and the
Louisiana State Senate, and Alton Cain. Commissioner Cain holds a degree from
Louisiana State University at Alexandria and a
master's degree in
criminal justice from
Grambling State University in
Lincoln Parish. He began his career with the Louisiana branch of the
American Farm Bureau Federation. He was appointed as the assistant secretary of
agribusiness for the
Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. In 1981, he was appointed as the warden of the
Dixon Correctional Institute (DCI). After fourteen years there, he was elevated to warden of the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Until 2011, Cain served as the vice chairperson of the Louisiana Civil Service Commission. and are unlikely ever to be released. Commissioner Cain claims that under his tenure violent incidents decreased significantly among the inmate population as the prison transitioned to a model based on a Christian religious atmosphere and manual labor, enforced in part with threats of solitary confinement and other punishments. But his claims are highly disputed. During his tenure he became the most famous warden in U.S. history, but before he retired he also became one of the most controversial wardens in U.S. history. As warden, Cain created an exclusively Christian religious environment in which inmates who displayed adherence to the faith were rewarded and those who did not were punished. At least one Catholic inmate was also allegedly harassed for requesting to receive
Mass while imprisoned on Death Row. Cain increased media access to the prison, and several documentaries were filmed at the prison during his tenure. He also established a
television station at the prison and supported the newsmagazine and radio. Filmed events at the prison include the Angola Prison Rodeo, football, and boxing matches. Cain established a prison-run
hospice program in 1997. In 2008, Cain became the longest-serving warden in the history of Angola. While at Angola, in September/October 2005, Cain also became the warden of
Camp Greyhound, a temporary jail in New Orleans in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina. In 2016, when he resigned, the prison had 3,600 inmates on 18,000 acres. In 2008 Cain said he supported continuing solitary confinement for the men known as the
Angola 3. In a 2008 deposition, attorneys for Woodfox asked Cain: Cain has been compared by both supporters and detractors to the
Dukes of Hazzard character
Boss Hogg. In December 2013, a federal judge ruled that death row at Angola is so hot during part of the year that the temperatures undermine the
Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which forbids "
cruel and unusual punishment". The judge demanded a plan to cool death row. Prison officials appealed the order. In May 2016, Cain was exonerated of any wrongdoing, with respect to using his employees to perform home renovations. In January 2017, a separate report from the office of Daryl G. Purpera, the state legislative auditor, said that some ten correctional department employees performed work on Cain's private residence near
Central in
East Baton Rouge Parish. One worked for Cain for three weeks while on official duty at his regular state job. In addition to the labor which Cain received, the audit alleges that the former warden obtained appliances and furnishings, such as iron gates, and food and lodging at the penitentiary for a number of his relatives, mostly his children. Corrections Secretary
Jimmy LeBlanc, Cain's long-term friend and business partner, said that Cain was "personally liable" for $20,000 for the costs of the food, lodging and gates; and that the department will file a
civil suit or seek
restitution if Cain faces prosecution in the matter. Cain discounted the findings of the Purpera report, saying it had misinterpreted his "creative" approach to handling his duties as warden. Cain claims to have transformed the long-running
Angola Prison Rodeo into a self-sustaining facility, resulting in a financial windfall for the state. He also authorized the construction of five new chapels built with privately raised funds. Ultimately Cain was cleared by the Daryl Purpera investigation and by another probe into his activities by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections. Cain said that he never doubted that he would be cleared because he had stolen nothing, had merely "thought outside the box" to bring needed changes to the penitentiary. He said that prayers from his fellow Southern Baptists assured that he would receive justice in the investigations. The
district attorney for the Louisiana 20th Judicial District, Sam D'Aquilla, indicated that he would refer the case to a
grand jury. ==Personal life==