By James Ridgeway | Fri March
20, 2009 12:21 PM PST
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/03/angola-3-prisoner-herman-wallace-moved-new-prison
The Louisiana Department of Corrections has transferred Herman Wallace, who
has spent more than three decades in solitary confinement in the state's
notorious Angola prison, to another prison in the state, Mother Jones
has learned. Wallace is a member of the so-called Angola 3, a group of
prisoners who spent decades in solitary after being convicted of prison murders
based on questionable evidence. The prolonged confinement of Wallace and fellow
Angola 3 member Albert Woodfox is the subject of a civil habeas corpus suit
charging Angola with cruel and inhuman punishment. Wallace's transfer follows
stories by NPR and Mother Jones raising questions about the evidence and
witness testimony used to convict Wallace and Woodfox of the 1972 murder of
Angola prison guard Brent Miller.
According to one of Wallace's lawyers, Nick Trenticosta, prison officials moved
Wallace unexpectedly--and without informing his attorneys--on Wednesday night
to the Hunt Correctional Facility in St. Gabrielo, Louisiana. Hunt is used as
both a permanent prison and as a way station where prisoners are evaluated
before being sent on to other facilities. Wallace's defense team has been
scrambling to contact their client, though they have been told by corrections
officials that they won't be able to speak with him until next week. (Corrections
officials at Angola did not return a call for comment).
Federal Magistrate Judge Docia L. Dalby, in a decision rebuffing the state of
Louisiana's attempt to dismiss the civil case, describes the decades of
solitary confinement endured by Wallace and Woodfox as "durations so far
beyond the pale that this court has not found anything even remotely comparable
in the annals of American jurisprudence." In a 2008 deposition in the
suit, Angola Warden Burl Cain claimed the men had been held in solitary for so
long due in part to their association with the Black Panther party.
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