Peaceful, non-violent protest in the form of hunger and work strikes organized by inmates caught the attention of Louisiana’s elected leaders and local media in the early 1970s. They soon called for investigations into a host of unconstitutional and extraordinarily inhumane practices commonplace in what was then the “bloodiest prison in the South.” Eager to put an end to outside scrutiny, prison officials began punishing inmates they saw as troublemakers.
At the height of this unprecedented institutional chaos, Albert Woodfox, Herman Wallace, and Robert King were charged with murders they did not commit and thrown into 6×9 foot solitary cells.
Albert Woodfox’s murder conviction was overturned for a 3rd time in February of last year, and for a third time, the State of Louisiana appealed. As Woodfox, now 67, prepares to enter his 42nd year in solitary confinement, he continues to maintain his innocence.
The third member of the Angola 3, Herman Wallace, was released last October from 41 years of solitary confinement after his conviction was overturned, but died 3 days later of advanced liver cancer at the age of 72. A group of U.S. Congressmen saw fit to mark his passing by entering a tribute to Wallace into the Congressional record, describing him as a “champion for justice and human rights.”
This event is a part of RETHINKING PRISONS MONTH – APRIL 2014!
Robert King spent 29 years in solitary confinment in a maximum security unit, the Supermax of the Angola prison in Louisiana. Now 71, the former Black Panthers activist has come to Paris for the first time to tell his story during a meeting organized by Amnesty International on Tuesday, April 30th. He condemns the private prison system, as well as the racial discriminations and humiliations that happen there. He also speaks about his campaign to free the other two members of the “Angola Three”, Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox.