TUTORIAL IT

A3 supporters at the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge, April 17, 2012, exactly 40 years after Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox were put in solitary confinement at Angola State Prison.

(Note: below is the statement by the Angola 3, submitted to the US Senate Judiciary Committee for their hearing on June 19, 2012 entitled, “Reassessing Solitary Confinement: The Human Rights, Fiscal and Public Safety Consequences."  In April 2011, Congressmen Bobby Scott, John Conyers, and Cedric Richmond all hosted a Congressional Briefing on “The Abuses of Solitary Confinement in the U.S. Criminal Justice System” that included a screening of "In The Land of the Free," a full length feature documentary film about the A3 civil and criminal cases narrated by Samuel L. Jackson.)

Dear Chairman Durbin and Ranking Member Graham:

My name is Robert Hillary King.  I spent 29 years in solitary before I was freed in 2001 after proving my innocence.  Since then I have worked tirelessly speaking and traveling around the world to raise awareness about prison conditions in the US, and to bring attention to the remaining two members of the Angola 3—Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox—who are still actively fighting to prove their innocence in federal court.  Both remain behind solitary bars in Louisiana today after 40 years. 

Many people ask me to describe my nearly 3 decades in solitary. Here is an excerpt from my autobiography where I attempted to put these experiences into words:

“Solitary confinement is terrifying, especially if you are innocent of the charges that put you there.  It evokes a lot of emotion.  It was a nightmare.  My soul still cries from all I witnessed and endured.  It mourns continuously.  Through the course of my confinement I saw men so desperate that they ripped prison doors apart and both starved and mutilated themselves.  It takes every scrap of humanity to stay focused and sane in that environment.  The pain and suffering are everywhere, constantly with you.  Theres no describing the day to day assault on your body and your mind and the feelings of hopelessness and despair."

Over a decade ago Herman, Albert and I filed a landmark civil lawsuit challenging the inhumane and increasingly pervasive practice of long-term solitary confinement.  Magistrate Judge Dalby describes our almost four decades of solitary as “durations so far beyond the pale” she could not find “anything even remotely comparable in the annals of American jurisprudence.”  The case, expected to go to trial by 2013, will detail unconstitutionally cruel and unusual treatment and systematic due process violations at the hands of Louisiana officials.

To mark the 40th anniversary of Herman and Albert’s original placement in solitary, this April Amnesty International delivered a petition with 67,000 signatures from 125 countries to the Governor of Louisiana demanding that Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox be removed from long term isolation, stating:

“Prison records show that neither man has committed any serious disciplinary infraction for decades. Prison mental health records indicate that the men pose no threat to themselves or to others.

Woodfox and Wallace are confined to their 6.5 by 9 feet cells for 23 hours a day and allowed out only to exercise alone in a small outdoor cage, or to shower or walk along the cell unit corridor.

They have also been denied any meaningful review of the reasons for their isolation. The only reason given for maintaining the men under these conditions has been due to the "nature of the original reason for lockdown. 

Amnesty International is firm in its belief that conditions for the men in CCR – 23 hour cellular confinement in stark, tiny cells; limited access to books, newspapers and TV; no opportunities for mental stimulation, work and education; occasional visits from friends and family and limited telephone calls - amounts to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.”

They go on to detail the human rights violations involved in such extreme confinement:

“In a recent report, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture condemned prolonged isolation as amounting to torture or inhuman and degrading treatment. He refers to the case of Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace in his report.

The USA has an obligation under international standards to ensure that all prisoners, regardless of their background, are treated humanely and that any security measures that may be necessary conform to this requirement. The prolonged and indefinite isolation of Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace without meaningful review runs directly counter to this obligation. 

The USA has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, both of which prohibit torture or other ill-treatment. The relevant treaty monitoring bodies (the Human Rights Committee and the Committee Against Torture) have found that prolonged solitary confinement an amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.  Both bodies have expressed concern that the harsh conditions of long-term isolation in some US segregation facilities are incompatible with the USA’s treaty obligations. 

Amnesty International believes their findings are particularly significant in the case of Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace given that few, if any, other prisoners have spent so long in solitary confinement in recent times.

Their treatment also contravenes the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. These and other relevant standards emphasize the importance of providing work and educational, recreational, religious and cultural activities for prisoners’ mental and physical wellbeing, as well as to prepare individuals for reintegration into society.”

We respectfully submit this statement with the hopes that you can use your legislative powers to put an end to long term solitary confinement.  Without uniform standards of the infractions serious enough to merit placement, a meaningful review process with outside oversight and a grievance process, opportunities for socialization and education, and a clear written timeline and detailed action plan for the inmate’s release, this form of punishment serves no punitive or reformative purpose.  In our view is the very definition of cruel and unusual punishment protected against by our founding fathers. 

We believe that only by openly examining the failures and inequities of the criminal justice system in America can we restore integrity to that system.  We are grateful for your efforts to do just that today.

Sincerely,

“The Angola 3” - Robert King, Herman Wallace, and Albert Woodfox

Reprinted below is a statement from Amnesty International, made in response to an email released last week by Louisiana Attorney General James Caldwell, where among other things, he claimed that the Angola 3 "have never been in solitary confinement." Please support Amnestys campaign urging Caldwell to not appeal last months ruling that overturned Albert Woodfoxs conviction for a third time. Take action here!


Louisiana’s “justice” keeps man locked up in isolation for over 40 years

By Amnesty International

March 26, 2013

Albert Woodfox has spent more than half his life in a cell just three paces wide and four paces long.

The 66-year-old man was convicted in 1972 of the murder of Brent Miller, a prison guard.

He claims he is innocent and organizations including Amnesty International have said his case raises serious legal and human rights concerns.

A federal district court in Louisiana recently ruled that his conviction should be overturned.

But Louisiana Attorney General James Caldwell has said he will appeal the ruling.

He says Albert Woodfox is a “career criminal” who should remain behind bars.

The case continues to paint a disturbing picture of justice in Louisiana.

In 2008, the same federal district court issued a ruling that overturned Albert Woodfox’s conviction though he remained in prison pending the bail hearing.

During this time, the Attorney General’s office emailed the neighbours of Woodfox’s niece, to whom he was intended to be released on bail, to advise them that that her uncle was a violent rapist and convicted murderer. He urged the neighbours to sign petitions to oppose his release.

When the federal district court subsequently ordered that Woodfox be released on bail, the judge criticized the Attorney General’s intimidation campaign.

Despite the bail order, Woodfox remained in prison following another intervention by the Attorney General who appealed this recommendation to a higher court.

Attorney General Caldwell has recently renewed his public attacks, circulating allegations about Woodfoxs alleged criminal activities in the 1960s, linking him to unsolved rapes and sexual assaults, and insisting that the states murder case against Woodfox is "very strong".

Setting the record straight

Albert Woodfox has never been tried or convicted of rape. Nor, after 41 years in prison, does his disciplinary record indicate that he is dangerous or violent. The prison system’s own mental health assessments indicate that he does not pose a threat to himself or others.

He has been tried twice for the murder of Brent Miller. The first conviction was overturned and he was retried and reconvicted. That conviction was overturned and then reinstated on appeal. Now this latest ruling overturns the conviction again.

At the original trial, the conviction relied heavily on testimony from Hezekiah Brown – who was the only witness to testify to actually seeing Albert commit the murder - as well as statements from four other fellow inmates.

There was no physical evidence linking Albert Woodfox to the murder. DNA evidence that was potentially favourable to the defendant has been lost - a bloody fingerprint found close to the body didn’t match any of the four defendants, and no attempt has been made by the State or prison officials to identify it through the prison fingerprint database.

Evidence has emerged since Hezekiah Brown’s death in 1996 that in return for his testimony, he had received benefits from the state – including immediate transfer from the prison to a cottage on the grounds and a weekly ration of a carton of cigarettes.

For more than 10 years, the Warden petitioned repeatedly for a pardon for Brown, which was finally granted in 1986.

According to a magistrate judge who reviewed the case in 2008, Brown’s testimony was “so critical to [the prosecution’s] case that without it there would probably be no case.”

Two of the four eyewitnesses who testified to Albert Woodfox’s involvement in the crime have since recanted their testimony. One has stated that he made up his testimony because he had been told by officials that they would help him transfer out of Angola prison.

Colonel Nyati Bast, a former inmate, testified during Albert Woodfox’s first trial that he was with him in the dining hall at the time of the attack on Brent Miller, which took place in another part of the prison.

Bast was placed in solitary confinement soon after he revealed this information to prison officials, and remained there for the duration of his 20-year sentence. He stands by his original testimony.

Of the remaining witnesses, one was legally blind and the other was heavily medicated at the time of the murder.

Real justice

The inconsistencies and flaws in the legal process led Brent Miller’s widow in 2008 to call for a new investigation into the case: “If they did not do this – and I believe they didn’t – they have been living a nightmare for 36 years”.

Albert Woodfox has been kept in solitary confinement for more than 40 years – held for 23 hours a day in a small, starkly furnished cell, and allowed out only to walk along the cell corridor, shower or exercise alone.

He has been deprived of access to work, rehabilitative programmes and group activity. As a consequence of these conditions, his physical and mental health has deteriorated.

Amnesty International is appealing to the Attorney General not to appeal the District Court’s recent ruling.

“Enough is enough. After four decades, real justice in this case is long overdue.” said Tessa Murphy, USA Campaigner at Amnesty International. “The ruling by the federal district court should be allowed to stand.”