Herman
Wallace, 71, has been diagnosed with liver cancer. He is being held in a
locked prison hospital room at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center at
St. Gabriel, Louisiana. The prognosis is grave, according to persons
with direct knowledge of the situation. Wallace is one of the two
members of the Angola 3 who, along with Albert Woodfox, is still being
held in solitary after more than 41 years.
Tessa Murphy, U.S. Campaigner for Amnesty International,
which has taken up the case, said in an email, "The tens of thousands
of Amnesty International supporters worldwide who have campaigned over
the years for justice in Herman and Albert's case will be devastated by
this sad news. Herman and Albert have been held in cruel conditions of
confinement for over 40 years without meaningful review; neither of
the men have disciplinary record to indicate that they are a threat to
themselves, fellow prisoners or staff, and the Louisiana prison
authorities have since 1996 broken their own policy to justify the men's
continued detention under these conditions.’’
Wallace
and Woodfox were placed in solitary confinement at the Louisiana State
Penitentiary at Angola in 1972, following the murder of prison guard
Brent Miller. The men believe they were originally targeted for the
murder, and have been held in isolation ever since, because of their
association with the Black Panther Party. (The third member of the
Angola 3, Robert King, was freed in 2001 when his conviction for the
murder of a fellow prisoner was overturned; he had spent 29 years in
solitary.) Several years ago, the two men were transferred out of Angola
and sent to separate, distant prisons, where they have remained in
solitary.
Angola Warden Burl Cain has stated in a deposition that
"Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace is locked in time with that Black
Panther revolutionary actions they were doing way back when." For this
reason, he says, they must remain in solitary, because if he released
them to the general population "I would have me all kinds of problems,
more than I could stand, and I would have the blacks chasing after
them." Louisiana Attorney General James "Buddy" Caldwell has likewise
promised to keep Wallace and Woodfox behind bars. (Caldwell also claims they "have never been held in solitary confinement.")
Both
men have been fighting to have their convictions overturned by the
federal courts, claiming they are based on highly questionable evidence.
Woodfox's conviction was overturned for the third time earlier this year, but he remains in prison while the state appeals. Wallace lost his
latest challenge, but continues to fight in the courts. At the same
time, a civil case has been filed challenging the men's four decades of
solitary confinement on First, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment grounds.
For
41 years, the Wallace and Woodfox have spent at least 23 hours a day in
cells measuring 6 feet by 9 feet. They are sometimes allowed out one
hour a day to take a shower or a walk along the cellblock. Three days a
week, they may use that hour to exercise alone in a fenced yard. In
their civil suit, their lawyers argue that both have endured physical
injury and "severe mental anguish and other psychological damage" from
living most of their adult lives in lockdown. According to medical
reports submitted to the court, the men suffer from arthritis,
hypertension, and kidney failure, as well as memory impairment,
insomnia, claustrophobia, anxiety, and depression. Even the psychologist
brought in by the state confirmed these findings.
"The
injustice of being held under such harsh, restrictive and inhumane
conditions for over four decades is compounded by the serious legal
concerns that have emerged in their cases over the years of litigation,
Amnesty’s Murphy said. "Amnesty International will continue its fight
for justice for Herman and Albert; with the terrible news of Herman's
health, this fight becomes more important than ever."
Two
months ago Wallace had complained of feeling ill. Prison doctors
diagnosed his condition as a stomach fungus and put him on antibiotics.
By last week, he had lost 45 pounds, as was sent to a local hospital,
where he received the news that he has liver cancer. He was returned to
prison after a few days.
A
team of lawyers, an outside doctor who has taken care of Wallace for
years, and a psychologist briefly visited Wallace last week in a prison
hospital room. Wallace was not manacled or shackled. The door was
locked. There is no television and little contact with the outside
world. Telephone privileges which were made available in the beginning
have been revoked by the prison. According to one source, a warden
ordered visitors out after ten minutes. "The level of inhumanity I am
not used to," said Nick Trenticosta,
one of Wallace's attorneys in Louisiana. "I am used to bloodthirsty
prosecutors who want to kill people, but not this sort of thing."
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