[Ppnews] Angola 3 - Their crime was to be black at the wrong time in the US

[Political Prisoner News]

Their crime was to be black at the wrong time in the US

23/03/2010
http://www.bigissuescotland.com/features/view/245


As a new film charts the story of the Angola 3, 
wrongly imprisoned in America’s most notorious 
penitentiary for 37 years, the documentary’s 
producer and Big Issue co-founder Gordon Roddick 
tells of the campaign, started by his late wife Anita, to reverse the injustice

Anita was never the most predictable of people 
and this time I thought she had taken leave of 
her senses. She came to me five years ago to 
enlist my support in the case of the Angola 3. 
She insisted I join her in Louisiana to meet 
Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace, who by then 
had each accumulated 34 years in solitary 
confinement. The third member of the three, 
Robert King, had won his liberty some four years earlier.

I was more than a little nervous at the prospect 
of meeting the two men and the whole 
prison-visiting experience did little to alleviate that.
Visitors have to go through a full body search 
and then a sniffer-dog routine, then the wait for 
the bus that drops off visitors within the huge 
20,000-acre sprawl that is Angola, Louisiana’s 
biggest and most forbidding State penitentiary.

Herman and Albert were at that time being held 
within a closed cell restriction block, which 
houses the solitary cases on two tiers, with 
about 13 cells per tier. The cells are no more 
than nine by six feet; they are kept in there for 
23 hours a day, only getting out for a shower or 
exercise in the yard, where again they are alone. 
Imagine for a minute being forced to live in your 
bathroom for the rest of your life.

They are constantly subjected to harassment of a 
petty and mean-minded nature: Herman was put on a 
charge and spent three weeks in the dungeon for 
having too many postage stamps in his cell. Both 
of them have been subjected to torture over a prolonged period of time.

The recommended time to be spent in Camp J, the 
punishment dungeon, is no more than three weeks, 
as it can send strong men crazy. Herman was once 
subjected to two years in Camp J. What kept him 
sane was the knowledge of his innocence and a 
steady flow of Angola 3 visitors and friends.

Through the cacophony of shouting and the 
clanging of the steel doors, I kept thinking – 
what kind of men am I on my way to meet? I had 
prepared a list of questions and topics for 
discussion and sat down in the little room they 
have for a non-contact visit. This is a very 
small room with six cubicles, prisoners are 
separated by a wire mesh through which you are 
visible. It is possible to talk without the aid 
of a telephone. Herman was brought in first, with 
both legs shackled and with hands tied to a waist 
belt. They released one hand so he could 
gesticulate and later on he was allowed to use 
that hand to join us in eating lunch.

My list of topics and questions was forgotten as 
we launched into conversation with the ease of 
friends. Anita had got to know both of them very 
well, through many visits and long monthly 
letters. The visit of four hours seemed to fly 
past very quickly. What struck me most was their 
quiet, perceptive intelligence and their concern 
with what was happening in the outside world.

Herman and Albert are very well read, there is no 
subject in terms of current affairs or legal 
issues in which they are not well versed. They 
have created a life for themselves that makes the 
most of their appalling situation.

Herman and Albert were adamant that while this 
was about the serial injustice they had suffered, 
it was, more importantly, about the thousands of 
black men and women still locked up following the 
wholesale racist climate of the late ‘60s and 
early ‘70s. It is their determination to lead 
this fight when they get out. They are outraged 
by the flagrant disregard for the American 
constitution, that says all citizens are entitled 
to be tried by a jury of their peers. On these 
grounds alone, there should be at least a 
judicial review of all those unsafe convictions.

The visit was peppered with laughter and good 
humour and I left Angola feeling uplifted by the 
few hours in their company, but shaken by the 
thoughts of what Herman and Albert have to deal 
with on a daily basis. I read most of the legal 
documents pertaining to their case; the more I 
read the more I was convinced of their innocence 
and the more I was determined to help Anita in 
her quest to set them free. These visits have 
since become an important part of my life and I 
have formed a deep and lasting friendship with Herman, Albert and Robert.

Congressman John Conyers, chairman of the 
Congressional Judiciary Committee, made a visit 
to see the two men. He was both moved and 
impressed with the positive attitude they 
displayed and he came back to Washington DC and 
gave a speech in support of them. He resolved not 
to rest until they have been set free. Five days 
after his visit, Herman and Albert were moved to 
a high security dormitory with 14 other prisoners 
and for a few months had respite from the 
confines of solitary. After about six months they 
were transferred back to solitary. The reason 
given was “budget cuts”. Their torture continues, 
with constant harassment focusing on accusations 
of minor infringements of petty rules.

We suspect there is a move to provoke them as our 
legal efforts are showing success. We must keep 
the spotlight on their cases. The best way of 
helping is by writing to them offering moral 
support. Also, write to the Attorney General, 
Buddy Caldwell, expressing disgust at their 
inhuman treatment, and to Louisiana Governor 
Bobby Jindal. In the meantime, we await verdicts 
from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, and 
Herman’s case has moved to the federal courts with a new habeas corpus writ.

A documentary about the Angola 3, narrated by 
Samuel L Jackson, In The Land Of The Free
 
premieres at Human Rights Watch Film Festival, March 24, in New York.

It goes on UK release from March 26.

For more information: 
<http://www.inthelandofthefreefilm.com>www.inthelandofthefreefilm.com




Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org  
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