Friday, April 17, 2015

(A3 Newsletter) The Waiting Game: 43 Years of Innocence; Still Incarcerated; Still Isolated

(PHOTO: Albert Woodfox in 1998)

Today marks 43 years since Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace were first placed in solitary confinement for a crime they didn't commit. We now await a decision from Federal Judge James Brady regarding Albert's request for bail, expected any week.

Featured below are messages from both Albert and Robert King. New artwork by longtime A3 supporter Rigo 23 is displayed alongside a poem written by Albert back in 1998 entitled I Wait. Who could have imagined that 17 years later, in 2015, he would still be in solitary confinement, still waiting for justice?

If you have not yet done so, please sign the Amnesty USA petition calling on Louisiana authorities to not oppose bail for Albert!

New artwork by longtime A3 supporter Rigo 23



A Message from Albert



Greetings.  I'd imagine that friends and supporters are concerned with what is happening to me since being transferred from the Louisiana Department of Corrections to West Feliciana Parish custody.  I'm ok--still in isolation as we come upon the 43rd anniversary of my first days in solitary confinement.  I remain strong and dedicated to the people's struggle. 

Stay Strong,
Albert


Robert King on Albert's 43 Years in Hell

(PHOTO: Robert King released in 2001)


Albert sits in a cell in a parish detention center in West St. Francisville Parish, where he is "still waiting."  He waits for the State of Louisiana's next move in their game of infinitely obstructing justice.  We, all of Albert's supporters, wait with him.

No evidence connects Albert to the murder. The case is rife with prosecutorial misconduct as well as manufactured and purchased testimony. Yet, 43 years later, despite a third overturned conviction, the State continues hell-bent in its determination to not just incarcerate Albert, but to also keep him isolated in solitary confinement.

Waiting for justice is a tortuously slow process in this "land of the free."

Local Media Coverage of Baton Rouge Prayer Vigil for Albert
 

The April 12 prayer vigil with Michael Mable, brother of Albert Woodfox (shown in photo above), led by Reverend Dr. Patricia T. Bates and sponsored by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture was reported on by The Advocate:

A small group gathered at the Wesley United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge Sunday afternoon to pray for Albert Woodfox, the last of the Angola 3 still in prison, and his brother, Michael Mable, said he hopes that he will see his brother as a free man within both their lifetimes.

"I do believe he's innocent," Mable said. "I just want him to have his freedom."

Mable said he has visited his brother every month without fail since his brother's incarceration in the early 1970s. Mable still makes the drive even after leaving New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and settling in Houston. He works as a chef on an offshore drilling platform.

Mable recalled how his older brother, then in his early 20s, also essentially raised him and his four other siblings on his own - from walking them to school to making sure they fell asleep.

"I just want justice," Mable said Sunday. "I just feel that all these years, they've never proved that Albert did this. ... My struggle is to make sure that he gets free one day."



I Wait 
By Albert Woodfox 
(1998)

6x8 cell and I wait
I wait for revolution , and I wait
For Unity and I wait for Peace
I wait while people shoot up dope
And while people smoke down grass!
Yes, I wait, am i a fool?
I wait, I wait and I wait!
People party down and I wait
I wait while people do the boogey
Robot, Bus stop and hustle
Our Lives away!                                
Education, agitation, organization
I'm still waiting
Justice! I'm waiting.





Write Albert:

Albert Woodfox #72148            
West Feliciana Parish Detention Center
PO Box 2727
St. Francisville, LA 70775

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