Louisiana Fighting To Keep Last Of ‘Angola 3’ In Prison After 43 Years In Isolation

ST. FRANCISVILLE, Louisiana (AP) — Prosecutors sought to keep the last of the “Angola Three,” Albert Woodfox, behind bars Tuesday despite a federal judge’s order to immediately release him after 43 years in isolation, a longer period in lockdown than any other living U.S. prisoner.

U.S. District Judge James Brady said Monday in a strongly worded ruling that “the only just remedy” is the immediate and unconditional liberation of Woodfox. The judge said that the Black Panther organizer, now 68, should not face a third trial in the stabbing death of a prison guard in 1972, when inmates were protesting conditions inside the Louisiana State Penitentiary.

But state officials weren’t giving up Tuesday, filing a notice of appeal with the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and planning to request an emergency stay to prevent his release.

The federal judge is trying to “set free a twice-convicted murderer,” said Aaron Sadler, a spokesman for Louisiana Attorney General James “Buddy” Caldwell.

Sadler called Brady’s ruling a “free pass” to freedom “based on faulty procedural issues.”

Both of Woodfox’s convictions were overturned due to racial prejudice and lack of evidence.

Outside the West Feliciana Parish Detention Center, where Woodfox was transferred in preparation for the third trrial, sheriff’s spokeswoman Erin Foster said state officials had until 2 p.m. to file their paperwork: “We just have to wait and see.”

Woodfox is “guardedly hopeful,” said his attorney, George Kendall, who met with him inside the jail Tuesday. Woodfox has been through arduous court fights before and “understands how the system works,” Kendall said.

Kendall said he did not know when Woodfox might be released, but he expects a ruling on the state’s appeal within 48 hours.

“Judge Brady was correct in granting this release. There is no way possible for the state to afford a fair trial in this case because nearly all of the critical witnesses are dead,” Kendall said. “This case ought to end.”

In his ruling, Brady cited doubt that the state could provide a “fair third trial”; the inmate’s age and poor health; the unavailability of witnesses; “the prejudice done onto Mr. Woodfox by spending over forty years in solitary confinement,” and “the very fact that Mr. Woodfox has already been tried twice” before his convictions were overturned.

Amnesty International and the United Nations have condemned Woodfox’s imprisonment as inhumane. Human rights advocates contend his solitary confinement is a form of torture.

Jasmine Heiss, a senior campaigner with Amnesty International USA, called Brady’s ruling “a momentous step toward justice,” and that Woodfox has been “trapped in a legal process riddled with flaws.”

Woodfox was one of several prisoners accused of killing of Brent Miller, a 23-year-old guard at the prison. A year earlier, Woodfox and Herman Wallace helped establish a prison chapter of the Black Panther Party, while Robert King helped establish a Black Panther chapter in the New Orleans prison.

All three were active in hunger strikes and work stoppages that spurred improvements to prison conditions, and all three suffered harsh treatment thereafter as prison authorities kept them isolated at Angola to prevent more disruption behind bars.

Wallace died last fall, days after a judge freed him and granted him a new trial. King has become a public speaker since his release in 2001 after the reversal of his conviction in the death of a fellow inmate in 1973.

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Burdeau reported from New Orleans. Associated Press Writers Kevin McGill and Rebecca Santana in New Orleans contributed to this report.

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