Black Panther Albert Woodfox free at last

This video from the USA says about itself:

Part 1: Albert Woodfox of Angola 3, Freed After 43 Years in Solitary Confinement

22 February 2016

After more than 43 years in solitary confinement, Albert Woodfox is a free man and joins us today for his first broadcast interview. The former Black Panther spent more time in solitary confinement than anyone in the United States, much of it in a six-by-nine cell for 23 hours each day. Albert Woodfox was released Friday after he entered a plea of no contest to charges of manslaughter and aggravated burglary of a prison guard more than four decades ago. Prior to Friday’s settlement, his conviction had been overturned three times.

Albert Woodfox was serving a five-year sentence for armed robbery at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola when he and fellow prisoner Herman Wallace were accused in 1972 of stabbing prison guard Brent Miller. The two men always maintained their innocence, saying they were targeted because they had organized a chapter of the Black Panther Party to address horrific conditions at the Angola prison, a former cotton plantation.

Woodfox, Wallace and and a third man, Robert King, became collectively known as the Angola 3. For decades, Amnesty International and other groups campaigned to free the three men. Woodfox was the last remaining member of the group to be locked up. Today we speak to Woodfox and King, who was freed in 2001 when his conviction for killing a fellow inmate was overturned. Herman Wallace was freed in 2013, just days before he died from cancer.

These two videos are the sequels.

By James Tweedie in Britain:

United States: Last Angola Three inmate speaks of mental torture

Monday 22nd February 2016

ALBERT WOODFOX, the last of the “Angola Three” prisoners to be released, has spoke of his 43 years in solitary confinement in Louisiana.

Mr Woodfox was finally freed on Friday, his 69th birthday, after pleading no contest to manslaughter charges in the 1972 killling of prison guard Brent Miller, to which he has always maintained his innocence.

On Saturday, he told reporters of the mental torture he suffered during more than four decades in a tiny, solitary cell.

“The cell starts closing in. The ceiling starts coming down.

“You go through this psychological self-analysis and then you’re talking to yourself and telling yourself that you’re strong enough … just trying to push these walls back and the ceiling back with the force of mind.”

Along with Robert King and Herman Wallace, Mr Woodfox was sent to Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola prison, in 1971 for armed robbery.

He escaped from the courthouse during his sentencing and joined the Black Panther Party during his brief time on the run.

After his recapture, he recruited the others into the Black Panthers and they began to agitate for better conditions.

The three men said this was the true reason they had been placed in permanent solitary confinement following their conviction for Mr Miller’s murder.

The trial hinged on the testimony of a serial rapist on death row who received a pardon in return.

Mr Woodfox’s conviction was twice overturned on appeals that were in turn challenged by the state.

Mr King was released in 2001 after his conviction was overturned. Mr Wallace was released in 2013 on compassionate grounds as he had terminal liver cancer.