Albert Woodfox, the last of three high-profile Louisiana prisoners known as the “Angola Three,” could walk free within days after a federal judge ordered state officials to release him immediately. He has been in solitary confinement or isolation for 43 years.
U.S. District Judge James Brady, the judge overseeing the closely watched human rights case, said on Monday that the 68-year-old former Black Panther Party prison leader should be granted immediate freedom and not be tried again in the death of a prison guard stabbed to death during prison upheavals in 1972.
Amnesty International and the United Nations have condemned Woodfox’s imprisonment as inhumane. Human rights advocates contend solitary confinement of the kind suffered by Woodfox is a form of torture.
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Brady ordered Woodfox’s unconditional release in a strongly worded ruling. He cited doubt that the state could provide a “fair third trial”; the inmate’s age and poor health; and the unavailability of witnesses.