The threat of the rising Mississippi River has prisoners at Angola State Prison racing to make sandbags and finish other preparations.

And longtime Angola Warden Burl Cain has readied plans to evacuate thousands of the prisoners in a matter of days. Cain told reporters Thursday that if predictions hold the river surrounding the prison farm will reach unprecedented levels soon.

As cattle grazed on the thousands of acres which encompass Angola, a race to fill sandbags was underway by prisoners.

"We're gonna have more water than we've ever dealt with before," said Cain.

Water from the bulging Mississippi has already reached an interior levee encircling the prison camps.

"The worst case scenario is if the levee breaks," Cain stated.

As it stands now, he will begin evacuating most of the 5,200 prisoners to other state run prisons on Monday.

"The ones we keep would the ones that might pose some sort of extreme threat to the public."

The prison intentionally breached a levee to relieve pressure and prevent overtopping and unthinkable consequences.

"It's a big bowl with a 12 mile levee around the whole farm and so there's no way to get water out of here other than evaporate or pump it out or let it run through the levee," Cain stated.

The interior levee was raised after the 1997 river crisis. The water that has invaded prison property and crept up next to the levee is already over 50 feet. Without the improvements to the levee, Cain said he would already be dealing with a flooding crisis.

"They told us if we didn't build a new levee we would lose Angola within 20 years."

The Angola ferry which many of the prison's employees rely on is out of commission because of high water which has basically swallowed the road leading to it.

Three quarters of the 18,000 acre prison farm is surrounded by the Mississippi River, and by May 23rd the river is expected to reach 65.5 feet.

"Picture that water 10 feet or 11 feet higher than it is today and look at that [prison] camp and you'll see that it would be inundated if the water came through...I'm very prayerful, I'm not certain of anything, but I'm pretty certain," he further stated.

Prison Camp "C" next to the levee will not be evacuated. Cain said hundreds of prisoners are needed to continue the flood protection work.

"We will keep this camp because we have to work on the levee."

And ultimately, Cain believes the higher levee will prevail against the rising water.

"We think we can weather this storm…..We're very experienced flood fighters and I have more resources than the Corps has because I have all these inmates," he said.

Cain added that New Orleans Sheriff Marlin Gusman is sending him buses on Friday to aid in the planned evacuation of prisoners.