Ex-Black Panther freed after 43 years in solitary

confinement
Albert Woodfox is the last of the "Angola Three" activists to taste freedom in a case which provoked
outrage among rights groups.
A federal judge had ordered Woodfox's unconditional release in June in a strongly-worded ruling that
barred any further trial on charges of murdering prison guard Brent Miller.
Woodfox twice managed to overturn his conviction for the crime, but Louisiana's attorney general
had been determined to pursue a third trial and managed to bar Woodfox's release on appeal.
He won his freedom Friday by pleading "no contest" to two lesser charges in a deal which allowed
him to be released on his 69th birthday.
"Although I was looking forward to proving my innocence at a new trial, concerns about my health
and my age have caused me to resolve this case now and obtain my release with this no-contest plea
to lesser charges," Woodfox said in a statement.
"I hope the events of today will bring closure to many."
The plea is not an admission of guilt but instead a legal maneuver in which he "does not contest that
the State would present evidence at a new trial from witnesses who said he committed this crime,"
his lawyers said.
Lousiana's Attorney General Jeff Landry said in a statement that the plea deal brought "finality" and
"closure" to the long drawn out case, adding that the arrangement "is in the best interest of justice."
"Albert Woodfox, by his own plea, stands convicted of the homicide of Brent Miller. In accordance
with that plea, he was sentenced to 42 years of incarceration and given credit for time served,"
Landry said.
President Barack Obama's spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Friday that the US leader is
convinced that solitary confinement should be used "appropriately and sparingly."

Obama, who recently introduced a ban on solitary

confinement for juveniles in federal prisons, is pushing to
introduce broader reforms to America's overcrowded
correctional system -- including a drastic reduction in the
practice of solitary confinement in federal prisons.
"If our ultimate goal of our criminal justice system is to give
people a second chance, after they've paid their debt to
society, we're basically setting them up to fail if we don't
take seriously the long-term negative consequences of prolonged solitary confinement," Earnest
said.

"The kind of reforms that the president put forward are the kind of reforms that can only be
implemented in the federal prison system," he said.
The Angola Three said they were targeted by prison officials because they spoke out against
inhumane treatment and racial segregation at the notorious Louisiana prison built on a former slave
plantation.
Woodfox and Herman Wallace, who were sent to Angola for unrelated cases of armed robbery, were
convicted of the Rogers murder in 1972.
Wallace was released in 2013 and died shortly thereafter from cancer.
Robert King, the third member of the group, spent 29 years in solitary until his conviction for a
separate prison murder was overturned in 2001.
Woodfox's attorney George Kendall called his client's long imprisonment "inhumane."
"Albert survived the extreme and cruel punishment of 40 plus years in solitary confinement only
because of his extraordinary strength and character," Kendall said in a statement.
"These inhumane practices must stop. We hope the Louisiana Department of Corrections will reform
and greatly limit its use of solitary confinement -- as have an increasing number of jurisdictions
around the country."
The case of the Angola Three has brought attention to the psychological toll of solitary confinement,
which typically means being locked in a tiny cell for 23 hours a day.
Researchers have found that depriving someone of visual stimulation, human interaction, sunlight or
physical activity can change their brain structure in a matter of days.
Yet many of the 80,000 people estimated to be in solitary confinement in US prisons have been there
for years on end.
"Today should also mark a pivotal new chapter in reforming the use of prolonged solitary
confinement in US prisons and jails," said Jasmine Heiss, a campaigner with Amnesty International
USA.
"Moving forward, Woodfox's case must serve as a tragic reminder of the cruelty inflicted by the
prison system at its most extreme."
http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/2016/02/20/Ex-Black-Panther-freed-after-43-years-in-solitary-confin
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