US Political Prisoner Albert Woodfox Released After 43 Years In Solitary Confinement

20 February 2016

 - Albert Woodfox has just been released from prison after 45 years, including 43 years of torturous solitary confinement in Angola Prison in Louisiana.

Woodfox was the last remaining imprisoned member of the Angola 3, along with Herman Wallace and Robert King, who organized a section of the Black Panther Party in the Angola Prison challenging horrific racism, segregation and systematic corruption and abuse in the prison, built on an 18,000-acre former slave plantation.

They organized hunger strikes and work stoppages within the prison. The three were thrown in solitary confinement in 1972, accused of involvement in the 1972 killing of a prison guard, despite no physical evidence and only one discredited, bribed witness. After years of struggle, King was freed in 2001 and Wallace in 2013 – who died just four days after being released from prison.