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NEWS & LETTERS, December 2002
New attacks on Angola 3, and new support
Angola, La.--State Penitentiary administrators are
tightening the screws on former Black Panthers Albert Woodfox and Herman
Wallace, two of the Angola 3, who will be entering their 31st year of solitary
confinement. Guards recently raided the cells of Woodfox, Wallace and their
friend Kenny Zulu Whitmore. It is not clear what was being sought, but some
legal papers, historical photos relevant to their case, and Angola 3 information
were taken on the basis of being racist and gang-related. Prison officials seem intent on sabotaging the ACLU civil
rights lawsuit filed against them by using false charges to make the two appear
to be dangerous men who must be kept in solitary forever. However, Wallace
has no record of these kinds of offenses and it seems highly suspicious that
suddenly, at age 61, with a federal lawsuit pending that threatens prison
officials, they are finding contraband in his cell, while he is living in the
highest security part of the prison where such material is practically
inaccessible. This harassment comes at a time of stepped up activity by
the Angola 3 legal team on two fronts. The first is a civil suit based on the
cruel and unusual punishment clause of the Eighth Amendment, filed by the ACLU
of Louisiana, which is working its way up through the courts. The second is a
challenge to the wrongful conviction of Woodfox and Wallace for the 1972 murder
of prison guard Brent Miller. Woodfox's new post conviction appeal, which
includes substantial new exculpatory information, was filed last month. Among the evidence are signed statements by two of the
three living prosecution witnesses, recanting their testimony. Before Miller's
death, the two men were successfully challenging the wretched conditions at
Angola, which was one of the most notoriously violent prisons in the world.
Prison officials falsely accused Woodfox and Wallace in order to stop their
prisoner organizing. Since Woodfox's second trial and re-conviction in 1998, in
Brent Miller's hometown, public attention to the case has increased. The
National Coalition to Free the Angola 3 formed, with chapters in several cities
across the U.S., and one in Europe. A pro bono legal and investigative team led
by Oakland, California-based attorney Scott Fleming, took on Woodfox and
Wallace's case. Anita Roddick, the founder of the British cosmetics giant The
Body Shop, recently visited Woodfox and Wallace at Angola and sponsored the
publication of full back-page advertisements about the Angola 3 in MOTHER JONES
and THE NATION. Meanwhile the third and only free member of the Angola 3,
Robert King Wilkerson, continues his tireless crusade across the United States
and Europe, speaking out on behalf of his two comrades. He was released in
February, 2001 after an appeals court found that the sole evidence used to
convict him, the eyewitness testimony of another inmate, was not credible.
For more information, visit www.angola3.org
and www.anitaroddick.org. --Scott Fleming and Beth Shaw |
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