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Over 39 years ago in Louisiana, 3 young black men were silenced for trying to expose continued segregation, systematic corruption, and horrific abuse in the biggest prison in the US, an 18,000-acre former slave plantation called Angola. In 1972 and 1973 prison officials charged Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox, and Robert King with murders they did not commit and threw them into 6x9 ft. cells in solitary confinement, for over 36 years. Robert was freed in 2001, but Herman and Albert remain behind bars.
Thursday, January 20, 2011 Guardian: Bradley Manning's Treatment Is Not Unusual In The US (1 comments)
The punitive incarceration of Bradley Manning is cruel, certainly, but far from unusual in the US. There are some 25,000 inmates in long-term isolation in America's supermax prisons, and as many as 80,000 more in solitary confinement in other facilities. Where is the outrage -" even among progressives -" for these forgotten souls? Where, for that matter, is some acknowledgment of their existence?
To be fair, a few of the writers who champion Manning have mentioned in passing the widespread use of solitary confinement in the United States. But more often, these writers -- and their readers, if comments are any measure-- have gone to some lengths to distinguish Bradley Manning from the masses of other prisoners being held in similar conditions. Whether explicitly or implicitly, they depict Manning as exceptional-- and therefore, as less deserving of his treatment...
Monday, October 18, 2010 Solitary Watch: Angola Prison May Close Lockdown Unit â€"But Vows to Keep Inmates in Isolation
LA has already sold some tracts of land belonging to the DOC, and is considering selling 2 state prisons outright to the private prison corporations that now operate them. This would provide a short-term cash fix of $70 millionâ€"but could cost the state just as much, or more, to house its prisoners over the long run. One possible plan is to close the solitary confinement unit at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola...
Thursday, March 11, 2010 37 Years of Solitary Confinement: The Angola Three, by Erwin James, Guardian UK
The case of the Angola 3 first came to international attention following the campaigning efforts of the Body Shop founder and humanitarian Anita Roddick, who met King and then Woodfox in Angola. Their story, she said later, "made my blood run cold in my veins". Until her death in 2007 she was a committed and passionate supporter of their cause. At her memorial service King played two taped messages from Wallace and Woodfox.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 My thoughts on "Showdown in Desire: The Black Panthers take a stand in New Orleans' by Elbert "Big Man" Howard (2 comments)
This is a unique book â€" a case history detailed in "spoken word" by a great variety of participants, who, allowed to tell their stories in their own words, share with us an amazing experience. By skillfully focusing on the incidents in one community in the South in 1970, and their connection to the young people who came together to form a chapter of the Black Panther Party in the Desire public housing development...
Friday, February 19, 2010 Former Prisoners Describe Psychiatric Toll of Solitary Confinement, by Susan Sharon, MPBN
Members of a legislative committee yesterday heard testimony on a bill that would limit the use of solitary confinement in Maine prisons to 45 days and prohibit its use for the mentally ill...Those who have experienced time in a cell alone say that segregation is a form of torture that actually causes bad behavior, and can lead to mental illness.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009 Metropolis Magazine: In The Jailhouse Now (1 comments)
NYC ART EXHIBIT: Rigo 23, who is most famous for his conceptual murals and street art in San Francisco, exploits the stairway's unusual dimensions to explore the architecture of prison spaces and the emotional and physical reactions they're designed to provoke. The stairwell's ceiling has effectively been lowered by the introduction of a metal grate overhead, and its single window to the outside has been covered with bars.
