Prolonged Solitary Confinement on Trial --An interview with law professor Angela A. Allen-Bell

**Watch the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on solitary confinement in US prisons here! 

RELATED COVERAGE:  Prof. Bell interviewed by Wanda Sabir, Democracy Now, The Atlantic (parts 1, 2, 3), Time Magazine, UK Guardian

Angela A. Allen-Bell speaks in Baton Rouge at the Louisiana State Capitol on April 17, 2012 when Amnesty International delivered a 67,000 signature demanding Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox's immediate release from solitary confinement.

Prolonged Solitary Confinement on Trial

--An interview with law professor Angela A. Allen-Bell

By Angola 3 News

A diverse grassroots movement confronting the widespread use of prolonged solitary confinement in US prisons appears to be gaining momentum. On the morning of Tuesday, June 19, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights is having an important public hearing on “Reassessing Solitary Confinement: The Human Rights, Fiscal and PublicSafety Consequences,”  presided over by Chairman Dick Durbin.

Angola Three: 40 Years of Solitary, 40 Years of Cruel and Unusual Punishment (Statement to Senate Judiciary Committee)

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. 

Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly article on the Angola 3 by Prof. Angela A. Allen-Bell

Vikki Wallace, sister of Herman Wallace, holds a photo of Albert Woodfox and Herman, standing outside the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge, April 17, 2012.

**Read Prof. Bell's statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee about solitary confinement and the Angola 3 here.


(Note: This law journal article has been reprinted in full by permission of the author. All rights are reserved. Please email the author for permission to reprint: BellA6@cox.net. The article's footnotes are reprinted in full at the end of the article, and are designated throughout the body of the article by [FN]. For ease of citation, we have preserved the original page numbers from the printed Hastings CLQ article. The page break notations and corresponding page numbers are designated as [*]. For example, in the first paragraph, [*764] marks where page 763 ends and 764 begins.)

Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly
Volume 39, Number 4
Summer 2012
Pages 763-821

PERCEPTION PROFILING & PROLONGED SOLITARY CONFINEMENT VIEWED THROUGH THE LENS OF THE ANGOLA 3 CASE: WHEN PRISON OFFICIALS BECOME JUDGES, JUDGES BECOME VISUALLY CHALLENGED, AND JUSTICE BECOMES LEGALLY BLIND [FN1]

Angela A. Allen-Bell [FNa1]

Copyright (c) 2012 University of California, Hastings College of the Law; Angela A. Allen-Bell

Introduction

       Incarceration has crept its way into the mainstream of American society. It no longer conjures an emotional reaction. In fact, for [*764] many populations, it is a predictable destination. For others, it is a fate easily justified. “Since the mid 1990s, the war on drugs, the war on gangs, the war on terror, ‘zero tolerance’ and sentencing policies such as ‘three strikes and you're out[,]’ ‘mandatory minimum sentences[,]’ and ‘truth in sentencing’ have all contributed to the dramatic increase in the number of people sent to prison in the United States and in the length of sentences they serve.” [FN2]

Report from Albert Woodfox's Evidentiary Hearing

Media Coverage:  KBOO Radio interviews law professor Angela A. Allen-Bell and Everett R. H. Thompson of Amnesty International  II  Torture at Our Expense, by Parnell Herber, New Orleans Tribune

DAY THREE: Thursday, May 31

Today Albert Woodfox's three day hearing seeking to overturn his conviction based on discrimination of the grand jury foreperson during his 1998 retrial came to a close.  Each side was asked by the Judge to submit a final brief on the matter 21 days after the transcript of the hearing is made available (which should take about 3 weeks), and a final rebuttal to those briefs 20 days after that.  The matter is then completely in the hands of Judge Brady, who is expected to make a decision by the end of 2012.

Thanks to all the supporters who packed the courtroom day after day for this crucial proceeding.  Hopefully coming months will finally bring long overdue justice for Albert.

DAY TWO: Wednesday, May 30

Midday the State rested their case, and both sides requested that the judge rule that the other had not met their burden and end the proceedings then and there.  To avoid another delay in the proceedings for him to consider these motions, Judge Brady instead asked Albert's legal team to proceed with the presentation of their case for the record while everyone was already assembled and promised to decide the pending motions sometime later.

Where's the Evidence? Amnesty International Launches New Action as Albert Woodfox's Court Hearing Begins

(VISITING WITH HERMAN: From left to right are Herman's sister Vicki Wallace, Herman Wallace, Jackie Sumell, Emily Posner, Angad Bhalla. Emily reports that "our group visited with Herman for the full day on Sunday, May 27, 2012. Conversation was lively and filled with hope around Albert's upcoming evidentiary hearing in Baton Rouge.")

Amnesty International Launches New Action as Albert Woodfox's Court Hearing Begins

Today Albert Woodfox will appear in court in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, seeking his conviction to be overturned for a third time. As we start this three-day evidentiary hearing, Amnesty International has released a statement about the significance of this hearing for Albert and everyone else's  "right to trial, in full equality and free from discrimination, before a competent, independent and impartial tribunal." A3 supporters are invited to attend the May 29-31 hearing (read more here). 

Determined to secure justice for the Angola 3, today Amnesty will simultaneously launch the second stage of their campaign demanding Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace's immediate release from solitary confinement. Amnesty's new online petition is calling for James M. LeBlanc, the Secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections to account for his comments that Herman and Albert were being kept in solitary to protect prison employees, other inmates and visitors. Amnesty asks "where's the evidence?"
We thank all of our supporters who signed the earlier petition to Governor Jindal and now ask you to please take action by signing the new petition to Secretary LeBlanc.

*Amnesty International's new petition and statement about Albert's court hearing are reprinted in full below.

*Keep updated by visiting our brand new Free All The Angola 3 facebook page.  

Amnesty International delivers A3 petitions but Governor Jindal refuses to meet the delegation

Photo of the delegation after delivering petitions.

On April 17, Amnesty International was joined by a delegation of supporters, holding a press conference at the Louisiana State Capitol building in Baton Rouge, LA, and hand delivering to Governor Bobby Jindal's office the petition initiated by Amnesty International demanding the immediate release of the Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox from solitary confinement.

Governor Jindal refused to meet with the delegation despite several attempts made by Amnesty International to contact him in the weeks leading up to the petition delivery.

In a statement released that day, Everette Harvey Thompson, Southern Office Regional Director of Amnesty International USA, argued that "the 40-year isolated incarceration of these two men is scandalous. There is no legitimate penal purpose for keeping these men in solitary - Louisiana authorities must end this inhumanity." The day before, Thompson told Between the Lines: "We've contacted Gov. Jindal's office many times over the past couple of weeks, requesting a meeting to discuss the case of the Angola 3, to inquire about the use of solitary confinement in this case, and there's been no response. Gov. Jindal has the opportunity to stand on the right side of justice and order removal of Albert and Herman from isolation. We really hope he will take heed and make some moves."

May 29 Court Date for Albert Woodfox of the Angola 3

Albert Woodfox

On Tuesday, May 29th, Albert Woodfox will begin a 3 day hearing that may result in his conviction being overturned for a third time. Proceedings will begin at 9am in Courtroom 1 at the US District Court in Baton Rouge and continue through Thursday, May 31st.

Albert will be present for the proceedings, and the hearing is open to the public. Please remember if attending that the Federal Court strictly enforces a more formal, conservative dress code (no short skirts or shorts of any kind, even with tights, no bare upper arms, sleeveless, or low cut shirts) and requires that observers don't react, either visibly or audibly, to anything the might see or hear in the courtroom. Also security is tight, so bring only your ID, car keys, and a pen and paper into the courthouse.

There is limited seating in the courtroom so if you arrive and are turned away, consider your show of support a success and try coming back the next day!

VIDEO: The Outer Limits of Solitary Confinement

This public forum, entitled "The Outer Limits of Solitary Confinement," held at UC Hastings College of the Law, in San Francisco on April 6, 2012 was organized by the International Coalition to Free the Angola 3, and co-hosted by the Hastings chapter of the National Lawyers Guild and the Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal.

The event marked 40 years of solitary confinement for Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox of the Angola 3, by exploring the expansion and overuse of solitary confinement, mobilizing support for the Amnesty International Petition to remove Wallace and Woodfox from solitary confinement (being hand delivered to LA Governor Bobby Jindal on Tuesday, April 17) and support for the California Hunger Strikers. Read more about the event here.

Featuring the following speakers:

April Marks 40 Years of Solitary Confinement for Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace

Update from the International Coalition to Free the Angola 3

April 5, 2010

This April we are commemorating what has now been 40 years in solitary confinement for Albert Woodfox & Herman Wallace.

On April 17, Robert King will be joined by Amnesty International and other supporters at the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge to present Amnesty International's petition to Governor Bobby Jindal demanding that Wallace and Woodfox be immediately released from solitary confinement ( view/download the flyer here). A press conference on the front steps of the State Capitol will begin at 2pm. A free bus will be departing New Orleans at 12 noon, from 1212 St. Bernard Ave. Seating is limited, so please call (504) 344-1717 to reserve a place by April 15.

The Outer Limits of Solitary Confinement: A Public Forum to Support the California Prisoner Hunger Strike

Release Date: March 24, 2012  
Contact: Marina Drummer
International Coalition to Free the Angola Three
Marina@communityfuturescollective.org
(707) 486-6806
www.angola3.org
www.angola3news.com

The Outer Limits of Solitary Confinement:
A Public Forum to Support the California Prisoner Hunger Strike

Friday, April 6, 2012, 6pm - 8pm

UC Hastings College of the Law

Louis B. Mayer Lounge

198 McAllister Street

San Francisco

(San Francisco)  --This free San Francisco event organized by the International Coalition to Free the Angola 3 will mark 40 years of solitary confinement for Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox of the Angola 3, by exploring the expansion and overuse of solitary confinement, and mobilizing support for the Amnesty International Petition to remove them from solitary confinement and support for the California Hunger Strikers. Includes Keynote with Angola 3’s Robert H. King, 2 films and additional speakers.

Guantanamo Prison's True Secret: Jason Leopold in Conversation With Andy Worthington

Guantanamo Prison's True Secret: Jason Leopold in Conversation With Andy Worthington

By Angola 3 News for Truthout.org

British journalist Andy Worthington, the author of “The Guantanamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison,” has been documenting the array of human rights abuses at Guantanamo for over six years now, after he personally became angry that the US government would not say who they were holding at Guantanamo. Worthington was recently a guest speaker alongside investigative journalist Jason Leopold at the UC Hastings College of Law, in San Francisco on January 13, 2012, hosted by the college’s chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. The event, entitled “Ten Years of Guantanamo,” was held amidst protests around the world calling for the prison to be immediately shut.

Leopold, who has also written extensively about Guantanamo for Truthout, queried Worthington about a range of issues surrounding Guantanamo and the so-called “war on terror.” While exchanging stories of false imprisonment and torture, both journalists expressed a profound moral outrage, openly supporting a global coalition of human rights activists’ call to shut the prison down, and, at a minimum, to release prisoners already cleared for release. Most of the conversation examined the reasons why the prison has not yet been closed, and then how, with these reasons in mind, activists can best strategize their organizing tactics for targeting lawmakers and building public support for closure.

While strategizing about ways to gain public support for shutting Guantanamo down, both Leopold and Worthington converged on the need to expose the extreme fearmongering perpetrated by US leadership in order to justify the human rights nightmare created by the war on terror. Looking specifically at the rhetorical strategies used to advocate for the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Worthington commented that elected officials are either “scared and [therefore are] disgraceful cowards or they’re scaremongers, and I think most of them are scaremongers. They’re playing the fear card. It’s an insult to you … we face such grave economic problems at the moment, that to have these idiots obsessing only about a terrorism threat that they conjured up, is a disgrace.”

Medical Self Defense and the Black Panther Party --An interview with Alondra Nelson

 

Medical Self Defense and the Black Panther Party

--An interview with Alondra Nelson

By Angola 3 News

Alondra Nelson, a professor of sociology and gender studies at Columbia University, is the author of a new book released last month, entitled Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discrimination. By documenting the multifaceted health activism of the Black Panther Party (BPP) and critically assessing the BPP’s strategy and tactics in a respectful and appreciative manner, Body and Soul presents an analysis that is rare and badly needed in US colleges and universities today. In this interview, Nelson discusses how the Panthers’ legacy can both inspire and provide important strategic lessons for today’s new generation of political activists

In her book, Nelson writes that “the Party’s focus on health care was both practical and ideological.” On a practical level, the BPP provided free community health care services, including preventative education. Simultaneously, the BPP railed against the medical-industrial complex, declaring that health care was “a right and not a privilege.” Ronald “Doc” Satchel, the minister of health for the Chicago BPP, wrote in the BPP newspaper that “the medical profession within this capitalist society…is composed generally of people working for their own benefit and advancement rather than the humane aspects of medical care.” A newsletter published by the Southern California chapter argued that “poor people in general and black people in particular are not given the best care available. Our people are treated like animals, experimented on and made to wait long hours in waiting rooms."

VIDEO: Resisting Gender Violence Without Cops or Prisons --An interview with Victoria Law

Resisting Gender Violence Without Cops or Prisons 
--An interview with Victoria Law

By Angola 3 News

(First published by Truthout)

Activist and journalist Victoria Law is the author of Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women (PM Press, 2009). Law has previously been interviewed by Angola 3 News on two separate occasions. Our first interview focused on the torture of women prisoners in the US. The second interview looked at how the women’s liberation movements of the 1970s advocated for the decriminalization of women’s self defense. Taking this critique of the US criminal “justice” system one step further, Law presented a prison abolitionist critique of the how the mainstream women's movement, then and now, has embraced the same “justice” system as a vehicle for combating violence against women.

While citing the important work of INCITE: Women of Color Against Violence, Law argues that “today, abuse is treated as an individual pathology rather than a broader social issue rooted in centuries of patriarchy and misogyny. Viewing abuse as an individual problem has meant that the solution becomes intervening in and punishing individual abusers without looking at the overall conditions that allow abuse to go unchallenged and also allows the state to begin to co-opt concerns about gendered violence.”

Bonding With Herman Wallace Inside a Louisiana Dungeon

Bonding With Herman Wallace Inside a Louisiana Dungeon

By Ashley Wennerstrom

I first wrote to Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox after seeing In the Land of the Free last spring and learning of the horrendous injustices the Angola 3 have suffered.  I felt compelled to offer my support and admiration for their commitment to social justice.  Within just a few days, I received a response from Herman (Albert wrote me a beautiful letter the following week) and we began to exchange letters on a weekly basis.  After several months of sparring about political philosophy, discussing literature, and discovering unexpected similarities, I was delighted when Herman asked me to join him for a special visit.

Two days before our scheduled visit, I received a letter from Herman explaining that he had not yet been notified of whether our visit was approved.  I had to call the prison the morning I hoped to see him to learn that permission had indeed been granted. Upon my arrival at Elayn Hunt Correctional Center, staff informed me I was not on Mr. Wallace’s visiting list and would not be allowed to enter.  I persisted, and staff eventually located my name on their list of approved special visitors.  I was instructed to pass through a metal detector and was given a full body pat down before boarding the bus to the maximum security prison.   

"We Called Ourselves the Children of Malcolm" --An interview with Billy X Jennings of It's About Time BPP

"We Called Ourselves the Children of Malcolm"
--An interview with Billy X Jennings of It's About Time BPP

Video by Angola 3 News

This year marks the 45th year since the Black Panther Party was co-founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland. It's About Time BPP is organizing events in the SF Bay Area throughout the month, with the biggest events Oct. 21-23. Read the full schedule below (click on the graphic to enlarge it) and link to the main event website here).

Featured above is a new video-interview with Billy X Jennings by Angola 3 News, entitled "We Called Ourselves the Children of Malcolm," featuring archival photos and more graphics from www.itsabouttimebpp.com, including the photo exhibit "Women of the Black Panther Party and Beyond." Link to the full screen, high quality version of the video here.

15 Years of Giving Voice to Women and Transgender Prisoners --An interview with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners

15 Years of Giving Voice to Women and Transgender Prisoners in California
--An interview with Diana Block, Pam Fadem, and Deirdre Wilson of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners

By Angola 3 News

On Sept. 26, the statewide prisoner hunger strike resumed after a postponement of almost two months to give the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) time to implement policy changes. The CDCR has reported that as of Sept. 28, almost 12,000 prisoners were striking and public support is needed in order for the strike to be most effective. An update posted October 7 at the “Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity” website stated that “medical conditions are also worsening for strikers throughout the state. We’ve received reports that after 12 days of no food, prisoners are once again losing severe weight and fainting. One hunger striker at Pelican Bay was denied his medication and consequently suffered from a heart attack and is now is an outside hospital in Oregon.”

The current hunger strike demonstrates once again that injustice fuels resistance, and California has a rich history of prisoners, former prisoners, and their supporters taking a stand. Among these freedom fighters is the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP), self-publishers of a newsletter entitled The Fire Inside (archived here). CCWP will be celebrating its 15th year anniversary on October 14, with an event in San Francisco featuring longtime anti-prison activist and former political prisoner Angela Davis along with other speakers and performers.

Robert King Touring UK With New British Film About the Angola 3

MEDIA COVERAGE OF TOUR: Oct.4 at the Frontline (Podcast and Written Article), at Liverpool John Moores University

Filming the Inspiring Life of Eddy Zheng, a Bay Area Community Leader Facing Deportation --An interview with Ben Wang

Filming the Inspiring Life of Eddy Zheng, a Bay Area Community Leader Facing Deportation
--An interview with Ben Wang

By Angola 3 News

(First published at Alternet)

Ben Wang is the Director/Producer of the upcoming documentary film Breathin’: The Eddy Zheng Story. The film’s website explains that “after serving over 20 years behind bars for a robbery he committed at age 16, Chinese American community leader Eddy Zheng now faces deportation to China, a huge loss to the Bay Area community. Released from prison in 2007, Eddy has dedicated his life to preventing youth violence and delinquency through his work at the Community Youth Center, Community Response Network, and many other SF Bay Area programs and organizations.”

This month, Wang and other film makers initiated a fundraising drive as they enter into the major phase of filming. As this interview is being release there is one week left. You can visit their Kickstarter page to donate and learn more. Complementing Eddy Zheng’s own website, news articles from 2002, 2005, and earlier this year, describe the various stages of the successful battle for his freedom from prison and the continued fight against deportation.

California Prison Crisis Sparks Statewide Hunger Strike --An interview with Isaac Ontiveros of Critical Resistance

(ABOVE: Protest at CDCR headquarters in Sacramento on July 25, photo by Indybay.org)

California Prison Crisis Sparks Statewide Hunger Strike
--An interview with Isaac Ontiveros of Critical Resistance

By Angola 3 News

On July 20, hunger strikers at California’s infamous Supermax, Pelican Bay State Prison Secure Housing Unit (PBSP-SHU), declared victory and ended their nearly three-week fast for human rights. The strike had been announced several months beforehand and when it began on July 1, the hunger strikers at Pelican Bay were joined in the fast by thousands of other prisoners across the state. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), at least 6,600 prisoners in at least one third of California’s 33 prisons participated in the hunger strike.

In response to the hunger strike, Assemblymember Tom Ammiano and the Public Safety Committee in the State Assembly of California will hold an informational hearing on August 23 regarding conditions and policies of the Security Housing Units at Pelican Bay. Activists have initiated a statewide mobilization around this hearing, in order to pressure state legislators and the CDCR to make substantial changes.

Showdown at Angola: God’s Warden vs. Veteran Muckraker

(Illustration of Burl Cain by Jack Unruh, Mother Jones)

Mother Jones writer James Ridgeway has written a new article about his recent visit to Angola Prison and his many failed attempts to interview Warden Burl Cain. While published in the July/August issue of Mother Jones, it has just been released online this week, and the full article can be viewed here.

For several years prior to this article, Ridgeway has been writing an excellent series of articles about the Angola 3, and this did not make him a favorite of Cain and Angola authorities. He writes that “when I requested permission to visit the prison and interview Cain, back in 2009, Fontenot turned me down flat. Cain, she said, was not happy with what I had written about the Angola Three, a trio of inmates who have been in solitary longer than any other prisoners in America…After more than a year of trying to get into Angola, I…turned to a lawsuit. In March 2010, the ACLU agreed to represent me on a First Amendment claim arguing that to keep government information from a reporter merely on the basis of what he's written is an infringement on press freedom.” Then, as “the ACLU prepared to file suit in federal court, Fontenot wrote to them, inviting me down for a tour.”