Posted: Thursday, April 11, 2013 4:39 pm
For 41 years, Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace have been wrongly
detained in solitary confinement, the majority of that time spent in
the infamous Angola Prison. April 17 will mark the anniversary of one
of America’s great injustices. And yet, just four days later, more than
7,000 spectators will visit the site of the injustice for entertainment
at the Angola Rodeo.
On the heels of a successful education campaign last spring, human
rights groups launched a petition asking Attorney General Caldwell to
respect the district court’s ruling. In one month, an Amnesty
International petition gained close to 16,000 signatures, including
those of Tulane students.
Held in cells that Woodfox described as “maybe four or five steps
for the length and about three steps for the width”, the Angola 3 have
spent much of their collective 100 years in these cells for 23 hours a
day. This treatment qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment, but, in
the tradition of Louisiana’s judicial system, the story of the Angola 3
is wrought with injustice.
On April 17, 1972, prison guard Brent Miller was murdered. Woodfox
and Wallace were charged without a single piece of physical evidence.
The two men, along with the third member of the Angola 3, Robert King,
were placed in solitary confinement despite the absence of legal reason.
In the years since their conviction, it has become apparent that not
only was there no physical evidence, but the main state’s witness,
fellow prisoner Hezekiah Brown, lied on the stand to receive perks,
including freedom in exchange for his testimony.
In 2001, after 29 years in solitary confinement, Robert King became
the only freed member of the Angola 3. This was after pleading guilty
to conspiracy charges of an in-prison murder in which, again, no
physical evidence existed.
Citing problems in the original trial, Louisiana retried Woodfox in
1998. He was convicted again.
In 2008, a U.S. District Court ruled that Woodfox had been denied
the right to adequate counsel and should be freed or retried. The state
appealed and won.
Once again, Louisiana faced problems. In February of this year, U.S.
District Court Judge James Brady found serious discrimination in the
jury pool for the trial and called to retry or release Woodfox.
In response to the 16,000 signature petition, the attorney general
drafted an email and had his office individually respond to every
signature.
The official email is one more example of the gross injustice in the
Angola 3 case. Attorney General Caldwell references crimes that Woodfox
and Wallace were never charged with, and supplies information that has
been ruled inaccurate and misleading. The email should come as no
surprise, however, as Caldwell has used language in the past, implying
he has a personal vendetta against the Angola 3.
Louisiana’s prison industrial complex is alive and strong, but too
often we lose sight of the individual cases that make it such a
tragedy. The Angola 3 case represents a small amount of the injustice
in Louisiana. Attorney General Caldwell should heed the repeated calls
from the U.S. District Court and human rights groups to fairly try and
release Woodfox and Wallace. The citizens of Louisiana deserve a
functional justice system. As long as the injustice persists, it’s
clear that King, and countless others, won’t rest until his friends and
comrades are freed.
Brendan Lyman is a sophomore in the Newcomb-Tulane College. He
can be reached for comment at blyman@tulane.edu
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SIGN THE JERICHO COINTELPRO PETITION!
Free All Political Prisoners!
nycjericho@gmail.com • www.jerichony.org
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