On the evening of Dec. 12, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled to deny bail for Albert Woodfox. Woodfox and Herman Wallace are the two members of the Angola 3 who remain unjustly imprisoned 37 years after being falsely convicted of the murder of white prison guard Brent Miller. The remaining member of the Angola 3, Robert King Wilkerson, was released in 2001 after serving 29 years.
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The crime that landed the Angola 3 in solitary confinement for most of the last several decades was not murder; it was their successful establishment of a prison branch of the Black Panther Party inside the Angola Penitentiary.
The infamously brutal plantation-turned-prison is emblematic of the racist and oppressive nature of the U.S. prison-industrial complex. Angola is a complex of buildings amid huge sugarcane, cotton and soybean fields run on the slave labor of prisoners.
When the Angola 3 began organizing nonviolently in the early 1970s, incidences of abuse of power by guards and previously rampant prisoner rape dropped significantly. Prison rebellions were sweeping the country and the successful establishment of the Black Panther Party in a prison that was—and still is—almost entirely African American was seen as a threat by the all-white prison authorities.
On Sept. 25, U.S. District Judge James Brady overturned Woodfox’s murder conviction, granting him bail two months later. However, the prosecution told the members of the community where Woodfox would live after his release that he would be a threat to their well-being.
The preposterous disinformation campaign stalled Woodfox’s release until a safe location could be established. Having bought some time, the prosecution successfully argued for a stay on Brady’s bail ruling. The latter move halted Woodfox’s release altogether.
The state has done little to conceal the political and racist character of the case. “I still know he has the Black Pantherism,” Angola’s warden Burl Cain recently said when asked how Woodfox could be locked up in solitary confinement for so long. “I still would not want him walking around in my prison because he’d be organizing young new inmates,” continued Cain, “and I’d have the blacks chasing after him and I’d have chaos and conflict.” (NPR, Dec. 17)
Nevertheless, the defense team and Angola 3 supporters remain optimistic. Though the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals did deny bail, it also ordered the state to expedite Woodfox’s retrial should it lose its appeal of Brady’s ruling overturning the conviction. Consequently, the next round of hearings will be in April or May 2009, instead of in 2010 or later.
The three-judge panel stated that they are unconvinced of the strength of the state’s argument. Woodfox’s lawyer, Chris Aberle, commented: “Two federal judges have already looked at this case—Judge Noland and Judge Brady—and each concluded that Woodfox was wrongfully convicted. Their analysis is strong, both legally and factually, and I am confident that the Fifth Circuit will affirm the District Court’s decision that Woodfox is entitled to a new trial.”
After nearly 40 years, the Angola 3 and their supporters will know within the next few months whether or not Brady’s ruling will stay and Woodfox will finally receive a new trial. The struggle will not end there, though. We must stand in solidarity with the Angola 3 until all three men are free, and we must remain commited to the fight against the prison industrial complex. Free Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox!
