Last prisoner of ‘Angola Three’ released

Albert Woodfox, the last of the “Angola 3” inmates who has spent four decades in solitary confinement in a Louisiana state prison, was released Friday after pleading no contest to manslaughter in the 1972 killing of a prison guard.

Woodfox pleaded no contest Friday (Feb. 19) in state court in West Feliciana Parish to lesser charges of manslaughter and aggravated burglary.

Woodfox walked out of the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola a free man at 3 p.m. alongside his brother Michael Mable, officials said.

His release comes despite Louisiana’s attorney general saying previous year they wanted “to make sure this murderer stays in prison and remains fully accountable for his actions”.

She cited his long time in solitary confinement and the level of medical care he got in prison.

Woodfox and two other inmates, Robert King and Herman Wallace, became known as the Angola 3 for their long stretches in isolation in Angola and other prisons.

Woodfox was a Black Panther who organized inmates against segregation and inhumane conditions inside Louisiana’s Angola prison, which was formerly a slave plantation. Woodfox, originally serving a sentence for armed robbery from 1971, was convicted of murdering prison guard Brent Miller in 1972. A divided panel of the 5th Circuit Court of appeals reversed that order in November with the dissenting Judge arguing that “If ever a case justifiably could be considered to present “exceptional circumstances” barring re-prosecution, this is that case”. He was awaiting a third trial in the case when he was released from custody.

Albert Woodfox has been released from jail after being kept in solitary confinement for nearly 43 years while maintaining his innocence. “I’m afraid I’m going to start screaming and not be able to stop”, he said.

His defense attorney, though, emphasized Friday that the no contest plea does not represent an admission of guilt. “I hope the events of today will bring closure to many”.

Woodfox was placed in solitary immediately after Miller’s body was found in an empty prison dormitory, and then was ordered kept on “extended lockdown” every 90 days for decades. They and a third inmate came to be known as the Angola 3.

Attorney General Jeff Landry, in a statement, thanked Miller’s family for their “courage and cooperation”, adding that their support for the plea deal was “instrumental in today’s very hard decision”. Parnell Herbert, a boyhood friend of Woodfox’s, said it was unclear where Woodfox would end up living but that he would likely spend his time advocating for prisoners and doing “positive work in the community”.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled the name of the attorney representing Woodfox on state charges.