Appeals court postpones release of "Angola Three" inmate

ST. FRANCISVILLE, La. -- A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked the release of Albert Woodfox, the last of the Louisiana inmates dubbed the "Angola 3" by supporters protesting their long stints in solitary confinement.

Tuesday's order came a day after a U.S. District Judge James Brady said in a strongly worded ruling that Woodfox, 68, should be released immediately - and that the state cannot try him again for the killing of a prison guard in 1972. Inmates at the time were protesting conditions inside the Louisiana State Penitentiary.

Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell is appealing the judge's order, saying Woodfox is a killer who should remain locked up. He requested that a state appeals court block the release.

His two previous convictions were overturned. Woodfox has long maintained his innocence in that death in 1972, when inmates were protesting conditions inside the Louisiana State Penitentiary.

The appeals court order blocks the release of Woodfox until at least Friday.

"The only just remedy is an unconditional writ of habeas corpus barring retrial of Mr. Albert Woodfox and releasing Mr. Woodfox from custody immediately," Brady insisted.

The federal judge is trying to "set free a twice-convicted murderer," said Aaron Sadler, a spokesman for Louisiana Attorney General James "Buddy" Caldwell.

Amnesty International and the United Nations have condemned Woodfox's imprisonment as inhumane. Human rights advocates contend his solitary confinement is a form of torture.

Both of Woodfox's convictions were overturned due to racial prejudice and lack of evidence.

In his ruling, Brady cited doubt that the state could provide a "fair third trial"; the inmate's age and poor health; the unavailability of witnesses; "the prejudice done onto Mr. Woodfox by spending over forty years in solitary confinement," and "the very fact that Mr. Woodfox has already been tried twice" before his convictions were overturned.

Tory Pegram of the International Coalition to Free the Angola 3 said she spoke with Woodfox late Monday. "He's excited and nervous," she said.

Woodfox was one of several prisoners accused of killing of Brent Miller, a 23-year-old guard at the prison. A year earlier, Woodfox and Herman Wallace helped establish a prison chapter of the Black Panther Party, while Robert King helped establish a Black Panther chapter in the New Orleans prison.

All three were active in hunger strikes and work stoppages that spurred improvements to prison conditions, and all three suffered harsh treatment thereafter as prison authorities kept them isolated at Angola to prevent more disruption behind bars.

Wallace died in October 2013, days after a judge freed him and granted him a new trial. King has become a public speaker since his release in 2001 after the reversal of his conviction in the death of a fellow inmate in 1973.