Angola 3 News: Albert Woodfox & Robert King's European Freedom Tour in November

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Albert Woodfox & Robert King's European Freedom Tour in November

Announcing Albert Woodfox & Robert King's European Freedom Tour Events - November 2016

The International Angola 3 Coalition is delighted to announce the first European visit from Albert Woodfox in November 2016. Albert Woodfox (the last remaining member of the Angola 3 to be freed from prison in Louisiana, USA in February this year after 43 years in solitary confinement) and Robert King (released 15 years ago after 29 years in solitary falsely accused of the same crime) will visit the UK and France to meet supporters and to continue their campaign to call for the abolition of solitary confinement and freedom for political prisoners who remain victims of the criminal (in)justice system in the USA.

The visit will take place during the USA presidential election and comes at a time when questions of race and injustice in the USA are as relevant today as they were in the 1970’s when Woodfox and King were members of the Black Panther Party whilst in prison campaigning for human and civil rights.

The visit will start in London with Albert and Robert launching Amnesty UK’s Write for Rights Campaign on Tuesday 1 November followed by the below UK public events:

Thursday 3 November, 5.30 pm – Liverpool

The Angola 3 and the Struggle for Freedom in the USA’s Criminal ‘Injustice’ System. Prof. Joe Sim in conversation with Albert Woodfox and Robert King.

Venue: Liverpool John Moores University, John Foster Building, Room G01, 80-98 Mount Pleasant,  Liverpool L3 5UZ

Reserve your free place here.

Friday 4 November, 5.30 pm -- Manchester

Black Power and the Struggle for Freedom in the USA’s Criminal “Injustice” System - The Story of the Angola 3. Conversation with Woodfox and King.

Venue: Manchester Metropolitan University, Faculty of Education, Brooks Building, 53 Bonsall St, Manchester M15 6GX

Reserve your free place here.

Monday 7 November, 7 pm – London Guardian Event

Life in solitary confinement in the USA: the story of the Angola 3. The Guardian’s Simon Hattenstone talks to Albert Wodfox and Robert King on the eve of the US election about their experiences and the struggle for civil rights in the US from the 60s to the present day.

Venue: The Guardian, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9GU

To attend, book your ticket here.

Tuesday 8 November – 6pm - Cambridge

Black Panthers to Obama’s America: Black Power and the struggle for freedom in the criminal (in)justice system - personal accounts of the Angola 3. In conversation with Albert Woodfox and Robert King.

Venue: Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, LAB 026, Cambridge

Reserve your free place here.

Tuesday 15 November --Paris, France

Rencontre de 19h à 22h

A la Bourse du Travail de Paris – salle Ambroise Croizat

Lieu : 3, Rue du Château d'Eau Paris 75010 France

More information here.

Albert and Robert look forward to meeting friends and supporters. Please spread the word of these events to friends and networks!

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Angola 3 Basics

(Download a flyer version of this fact sheet here.)

In 1972, deep in rural Louisiana, three young black men were silenced for trying to expose continued segregation, systematic corruption, and horrific abuse in the biggest prison in the US, an 18,000 acre former slave plantation called Angola.

Peaceful, non-violent protest in the form of hunger and work strikes organized by inmates caught the attention of Louisiana’s elected leaders and local media in the early 1970s. They soon called for investigations into a host of unconstitutional and extraordinarily inhumane practices commonplace in what was then the “bloodiest prison in the South.” Eager to put an end to outside scrutiny, prison officials began punishing inmates they saw as troublemakers.

At the height of this unprecedented institutional chaos, Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox, and Robert King were charged with murders they did not commit and thrown into 6x9 foot solitary cells where they remained for decades.

Their struggle for justice continued until Robert was released in 2001, Herman in 2013, and Albert in 2016.

Despite a number of reforms achieved in the mid-70s, many officials repeatedly ignored both evidence of misconduct, and of innocence.

The State’s case was riddled with inconsistencies, obfuscations, and missteps. A bloody print at the murder scene did not match Herman, Albert or anyone charged with the crime and was never compared with the limited number of other prisoners who had access to the dormitory on the day of the murder. In 2008, NPR asked Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell why the state refused to test the print. "A fingerprint can come from anywhere," Caldwell explained. "We're not going to be fooled by that."

Potentially exculpatory DNA evidence was “lost” by prison officials—including fingernail scrapings from the victim and barely visible “specks” of blood on clothing alleged to have been worn by Albert.

Both Herman and Albert had multiple alibi witnesses with nothing to gain who testified they were far away from the scene when the murder occurred.

In contrast, several State witnesses lied under oath about rewards for their testimony. The prosecution’s star witness Hezekiah Brown told the jury: “Nobody promised me nothing.” But new evidence showed Hezekiah, a convicted serial rapist serving life, agreed to testify only in exchange for a pardon, a weekly carton of cigarettes, TV, birthday cakes, and other luxuries.

“Hezekiah was one you could put words in his mouth,” the Warden reminisced chillingly in an interview about the case years later.

Notably, Teenie Rogers, the widow of the victim, prison guard Brent Miller, after reviewing the evidence believed Herman and Albert’s trials were unfair, expressed grave doubts about their guilt, and called upon officials to find the real killer. "“Each time I look at the evidence in this case, I remember there is no proof that the men charged with Brent’s death are the ones who actually killed him. It’s easy to get caught up in vengeance and anger, but when I look at the facts, they just do not add up,” said Rogers in 2013.

Herman’s conviction was finally overturned in October 2013 by a Federal Judge. Although his trial was riddled with evidence of prosecutorial misconduct and other constitutional violations, it was the systematic exclusion of women from his jury in violation of the 14th Amendment that freed him. Unfortunately he was released in the late stages of advanced liver cancer and only experienced 3 days of freedom. Sadly for Herman, justice delayed was justice denied.

Albert’s conviction was overturned three times by judges citing racial discrimination, prosecutorial misconduct, inadequate defense, and suppression of exculpatory evidence. While the case worked its way through endless appeals, Louisiana officials refused to release Albert from solitary, even when no longer convicted of the crime, because “there’s been no rehabilitation” from “practicing Black Pantherism.”4

In June 2015, a Federal Judge courageously ordered Albert's immediate release and barred a retrial stressing the “Court's lack of confidence in the State to provide a fair third trial." This extraordinary remedy was also frozen pending yet another series of appeals.

Finally, Albert was released in February of 2016, 43 years and 10 months after first being put in isolation for a crime he didn’t commit.

Louisiana today has the highest incarceration rate in the US—thus the highest in the world.

Three-fourths of the 5,000+ prisoners at Angola are African American. And due to some of the harshest sentencing practices in the nation, 97% will die there.

Reminiscent of a bygone era, inmates still harvest cotton, corn and wheat for 4 to 20 cents an hour under the watchful eye of armed guards on horseback.

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 must not wait.

We can make a difference.

As the A3 did years before, now is the time to challenge injustice and demand that the innocent and wrongfully incarcerated be freed.

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

In 2000, Herman, Albert and Robert filed a civil lawsuit challenging the inhumane and increasingly pervasive practice of long-term solitary confinement. Magistrate Judge Dalby described their decades of isolation as “so far beyond the pale” she could not find “anything even remotely comparable in the annals of American jurisprudence.” Over the course of 16 years, this seminal case detailed unconstitutionally cruel and unusual treatment and systematic due process violations at the hands of Louisiana officials and inspired worldwide action to end long term solitary.

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Albert Woodfox & Robert King's European Freedom Tour in November

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Enslavement, past and present--from the Middle Passage to US prisons today