A federal judge in New Orleans has ordered the release of an inmate held in solitary confinement for more than 40 years. He’s the last prisoner in a case known as the Angola Three.
Albert Woodfox has been jailed in connection with the 1972 murder of a prison guard. Federal judge James Brady also barred prosecutors from seeking a third trial, saying another one could not be fair.
Woodfox and co-defendant Herman Wallace, both black, had founded a chapter of the Black Panthers Party in Angola prison, where they were held for an armed robbery charge. They say the murder conviction was retaliation for protests they held over prison conditions.
They were held in solitary confinement, as was a third inmate – Robert King. He was released in 2001; Wallace in 2013. He died of liver cancer three days later. The Louisiana Attorney General says the Woodfox ruling will be appealed.