40 years in solitary confinement? What in fucking HELL have we become?

[eridani]

http://www.nationofchange.org/albert-woodfox-s-40-years-solitary-confinement-1362147066

Albert Woodfox has been in solitary confinement for 40 years, most of that time locked up in the notorious maximum-security Louisiana State Penitentiary known as “Angola.” This week, after his lawyers spent six years arguing that racial bias tainted the grand-jury selection in Woodfox’s prosecution, federal Judge James Brady, presiding in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, agreed. “Accordingly, Woodfox’s habeas relief is GRANTED,” ordered Brady, compelling the state of Louisiana to release Woodfox. This is the third time his conviction has been overturned. Nevertheless, Woodfox remains imprisoned. Those close to the case expect the state of Louisiana, under the direction of Attorney General James “Buddy” Caldwell, to appeal again, as the state has successfully done in the past, seeking to keep Woodfox in solitary confinement, in conditions that Amnesty International says “can only be described as cruel, inhuman and degrading.”

Woodfox is one of the “Angola 3.” Angola, the sprawling prison complex with 5,000 inmates and 1,800 employees, is in rural Louisiana on the site of a former slave plantation. It gets its name from the country of origin of many of those slaves. It still exists as a forced-labor camp, with prisoners toiling in fields of cotton and sugar cane, watched over by shotgun-wielding guards on horseback. Woodfox and fellow inmate Herman Wallace were in Angola for lesser crimes when implicated in the prison murder of a guard in 1972. Woodfox and Wallace founded the Angola chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1971, and were engaged in organizing against segregation, inhumane working conditions and the systemic rape and sexual slavery inflicted on many imprisoned in Louisiana’s Angola.

[markpkessinger]

1. Absolutely shameful! n/t

[Mnemosyne]

2. Isn't this cruel and unusual? And war criminals George Bush and Dick Cheney walk free, sickening. nt

[another_liberal]

3. "Things have changed in the South . . ."

Justice Roberts is clearly right, "Things have changed in the South."

[saidsimplesimon]

25. another liberal, Justice Roberts holds the hammer.

He may (big emphasis on may) surprise US with a vote that confirms there is a color bias. It's true in all states. Congress needs to get off their taxpayer funded recesses.

[another_liberal]

30. He has . . .

He has surprised us before (Affordable Health Care Act, for example) and I sincerely hope he does so again.

There is racism everywhere, yes, but then there are places like Alabama! The deep South is different, that is undeniable.

[WinkyDink]

4. I'd enjoy placing a large number of "too big to fail" types there, "toiling in fields of cotton..."

[Sunlei]

5. slavery never stopped in the south, it even got worse.

[Jumpin Jack Fletch]

6. K&R for thread

A raised middle finger for Louisiana's "justice" system.

[Buffalo Bull]

20. Two middle finger..one from either hand

N.Y. ponders medical use, dithering is the crime

[Earth_First]

7. My god! What a shameful situation.

Also, finding out where Angola got it's name made me sick to my stomach; I never knew that.

[NoMoreWarNow]

8. yes, it's terrible... but this notion that we have "become bad" really needs to be stopped

we've always had incredible evil in this country.

[annabanana]

9. I never want to hear the term "post-racial" again.

Especially not from some beltway asshole.

[Guizar]

10. Worse now

In some areas of the US racism is worse than it was 50 years ago. We have now institutionalized the racist beliefs of America in our society through our schools, voting districts and of course the worlds largest prison population.

[Demo_Chris]

22. No. Fifty years ago we murdered black people for using the wrong water fountain

Today we have a black President.

[cui bono]

23. Having a Black president doesn't mean as much as you think it does.

Black people still get murdered much in the same way, and now it's often by cops for no reason at all except just for being black. Black mothers were afraid to let their sons go to school while the hunt for Dornan was on. What about Treyvon Martin? Countless others? The education system is worse in black neighborhoods, the "justice" system has failed blacks, just look at the prison population. Seriously, all of that isn't even just the south. I'd hate to see and hear what goes on down there.

Racism is alive and well. Don't let one man's triumph blind you to that. In fact, you could say that racism is partly responsible for Obama being president. Latinos and blacks voted overwhelmingly for him and a lot of that was due to the fact that the Republican party is for the most part racist.

[Demo_Chris]

24. I did not say that racism was over (cont)

I said that things were better than they were 50 years ago. That's reality. If you do not believe this then I don't know what to tell you.

We still have a long way to go, but I think things are rapidly improving, and by the time today's young people grow old I suspect that racism will be limited to a tiny minority of crackpots. I hope so anyway.

But to suggest that things are as bad today as they were fifty years ago is absurd.

[defacto7]

40. The population has almost doubled in fifty years.

Whether it is worse or better, there are twice as many bad people and twice as many good people, twice as many bad stories and twice as many good ones. It's hard to know if things are better or worse when the number of racists as well as the tolerant have increased.

[ladjf]

11. We are a Nation that has inhuman policies and laws that vastly favor the wealthy. We have

become a Nation that is depriving our children of a good education, choosing rather to indoctrinate them in the superstitious ways of religious dogma.

[RKP5637]

14. Definitely ... a country bringing on its own demise all by itself. This country is

afraid of terrorists ... the charade that makes lots of $$$$$ for those on the take with their instruments of surveillance and war. The country should be more afraid of itself and its future ... the shit that goes on within its own borders.

[ladjf]

15. I would like to point out that the U.S. also has many policies. The problem is that the good

things seem to be fading while the bad increases.

[RKP5637]

12. This country points its finger at other countries ... some pointing needs to be done at the US and

the atrocities that go on here out of sight, out of mind ... while politicians squabble with their puff and fluff strutting around as well paid peacocks at our expense.

[awoke_in_2003]

32. When you point your finger at someone...

there are three more pointed back at you.

[RKP5637]

35. Yep, quite true! n/t

[mountain grammy]

13. For a nation founded on genocide, slavery, and aparthied, we've come a long way...

But have we still have a very long way to go. Look what it took for Germany to become a socialistic, civilized state, the strongest in Europe. So, with our help and the Marshall Plan, Germany did win the war.
We better get a Marshall Plan of our own or the Confederacy will rise again to win that war. The five corrupt rulers on the Supreme Court make me think they already have.

[Tumbulu]

28. Well stated

and good points!

[Niceguy1]

16. His confinement

Has more to do with the fact that he was convicted of killing a correctional officer.... Whether his conviction was just is a totally different matter. I do wish him success if he is truly innocent of the murder.

[lonestarnot]

17. Was just wondering the same thing on another thread.

[Solly Mack]

18. K&R

Disgraceful.

[libodem]

19. Bobby Jindle

Must be so proud. This is how he plans to manage our country when he and big Christie, run.

[tritsofme]

21. So he killed a prison guard...?

I've always thought life-time solitary confinement to be preferable to capital punishment.

[Niceguy1]

29. It is for now.

When CP is gone they will start fighting against the SHU... You do know that everybody in prison is innocent, right?

[Hestia]

26. I think Nat'l Geographic had a special on Angola - NO ONE walks out, ever.

That is their goal - once in, always in. That is why they are fighting so hard to keep him in, rather than seeing him go free.

Horrible, horrible situation.

[Initech]

27. In this country it's easier to go to prison than to get a job that pays well.

[99Forever]

31. The USA is going out in a blanket of shame.

We had a good run tho.

[hopemountain]

33. though we cannot ignore the truth

that the stench of racism continues - we must rise above and take a stand for what we do believe and hold dear and cherish - for our own sanity and the future of our loved ones. certainly, the price has been paid!! over and over again, people have fought and it cannot be eradicated. there is nothing left to do but move forward with our heads up and with integrity.

why do you think the president refuses to address the issue?

i just watched the documentary which i will not name here because i do not believe in perpetuating the hate and smoke and mirrors of hate. there is no changing this type of hatred which is so sinister and embedded in the psyches and culture of the south and elsewhere - wherever one kind of human considers themselves dominant over others - it is a cancer.

there are several important icons in the film - henry belafonte, morgan freeman, etc., but, at the end of the film the beautiful voice of an up coming young woman from mississippi sings her original song, "stand". she is on you tube and her name is teneia sanders. let my voice join her voice.

[DreamGypsy]

34. May he never dream of Angola again, in all his days...

Here's another true story about justice and Angola: Hayes Williams.

Hayes Williams speaks to reporters in front of the Federal Court House
in New Orleans, LA May 15, 1997, after his release from from prison having
served 30 years at the Louisiana State Penitentary at Angola
for a murder he did not commit.

In the end, I found it best to just listen. He was one of the most articulate men I had ever met, and put a face on his experience with a passion and directness I will never forget. "Take the most depressing moment of your entire life," he once told a journalism class at Tulane University, "and that's how you feel every minute, every hour, every day for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year when you're locked up."

It would be a mistake, however, to believe that Hayes Williams' life was wasted. Because from the belly of the beast he made an indelible mark on Louisiana history. Using what limited resources he had available to him, he and a handful of other inmates almost singlehandedly took on the brutal system that enslaved them. In 1975, a federal judge, shocked by appalling conditions at Angola — due in large part to their lawsuits — placed it under federal control. It was returned to the state only last year. But Williams' courage and determination made him a marked man, and he remained at Angola for another 10 years, long after his co-defendants, originally convicted and sentenced to death, had been freed.

Casey Neill wrote a song about Hayes' life.

[upi402]

36. Amy Goodman is on the case

It's a shame. Overturned twice before... christ

:shame:

[limpyhobbler]

37. k&r

Glad someone posted this.

[blues lover]

38. Jim Crow is dead in the South

However his grandson , James T. Crow esq. has graduated from Bob Jones University and has a Law degree from Regents college. He works for a think tank funded by supporters of the South that existed before the 'War of Northern Aggression' and continues to try to return us to the early 1800's when 'certain' people 'knew their place'.

"Trust us with your rights", they say. Meanwhile they do everything they can to return the larger portion of society to a condition akin to that of serfdom...or worse.

[Milliesmom]

39. what could they do

If President Obama pardoned wouldn't they have to set him free, we need to start a petition to President Obama on the website and see what happens. This is inhumane treatment, no telling what horrors he has suffered at their hands.