[Ppnews] Angola 3 Prisoner Herman Wallace Moved to New Prison

[Political Prisoner News]

Angola 3 Prisoner Herman Wallace Moved to New Prison

­ By 
<http://www.motherjones.com/authors/james-ridgeway>James 
Ridgeway | Fri March 20, 2009 12:21 PM PST
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/03/angola-3-prisoner-herman-wallace-moved-new-prison

The Louisiana Department of Corrections has 
transferred Herman Wallace, who has 
<http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.motherjones.com%2Fpolitics%2F2009%2F03%2F36-years-solitude&ei=7-7DSYb7DYqmsQO3lrDVBQ&usg=AFQjCNEYGh_YFz2XMZECzc79_piQsgs8yQ&sig2=ezgALErBzbsdGjkVCcVFyw>spent 
more than three decades in solitary confinement 
in the state's notorious Angola prison, to 
another prison in the state, Mother Jones has 
learned. Wallace is a member of the so-called 
Angola 3, a group of prisoners who spent decades 
in solitary after being convicted of prison 
murders based on questionable evidence. The 
prolonged confinement of Wallace and fellow 
Angola 3 member Albert Woodfox is the subject of 
a civil habeas corpus suit charging Angola with 
cruel and inhuman punishment. Wallace's transfer 
follows 
<http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.motherjones.com%2Fpolitics%2F2009%2F03%2F36-years-solitude&ei=7-7DSYb7DYqmsQO3lrDVBQ&usg=AFQjCNEYGh_YFz2XMZECzc79_piQsgs8yQ&sig2=ezgALErBzbsdGjkVCcVFyw>stories 
by NPR and Mother Jones raising questions about 
the evidence and witness testimony used to 
convict Wallace and Woodfox of the 1972 murder of 
Angola prison guard Brent Miller.

According to one of Wallace's lawyers, Nick 
Trenticosta, prison officials moved Wallace 
unexpectedly--and without informing his 
attorneys-- on Wednesday night to the Hunt 
Correctional Facility in St. Gabrielo, Louisiana. 
Hunt is used as both a permanent prison and as a 
way station where prisoners are evaluated before 
being sent on to other facilities. Wallace's 
defense team has been scrambling to contact their 
client, though they have been told by corrections 
officials that they won't be able to speak with 
him until next week. (Corrections officials at 
Angola did not return a call for comment).

Federal Magistrate Judge Docia L. Dalby, in a 
decision rebuffing the state of Louisiana's 
attempt to dismiss the civil case, describes the 
decades of solitary confinement endured by 
Wallace and Woodfox as "durations so far beyond 
the pale that this court has not found anything 
even remotely comparable in the annals of 
American jurisprudence." In a 2008 deposition in 
the suit, Angola Warden Burl Cain claimed the men 
had been held in solitary for so long due in part 
to their association with the Black Panther party.




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