-Avier Wanjou-Brass-

Cousins!

A former Black Panther who spent nearly 44 years in solitary confinement, recently passed away. 

Albert Woodfax, 75-, who was convicted of the 1972 murder of Brent Miller, a corrections officer, died from coronavirus-related complications after spending over four decades in solitary confinement.

Along with two other men– Woodfax, Herman Wallace, and Robert King became known as the “Angola 3,” for their long length of solitary confinement.

Woodfax and Wallace were convicted of the murder of Miller, but the pair always maintained their innocence.

According to NPR, Woodfax spent “43 years inside a 6-by-9-foot cell for 23 hours per day, enduring claustrophobia, gassings, beatings and other forms of torture.”

During a 2019 interview with NPR’s Scott Simon, Woodfax says, “Well, gas was a standard form of weapons that the security people used. So anytime you challenge inhumane treatment or you challenge unconstitutional conduct, they would gas you.”

“And depending on the severity of the confrontation, they would open up your cell, and they would come in and beat you down and then shackle you and bring you to the dungeon, and you probably would stay there a minimum of 10 days,” he added.

Through the many years of injustice, Woodfax spent his years educating others and refusing to stay silent by protesting and organizing “strikes on the prison’s deplorable conditions, racial injustice, and exploitative work hours.”

“And we lived on what we call an organized tier along the principles of the Black Panther Party, developing unity among the other guys on the tier. We taught guys how to read and write, which I think was my greatest achievement,” he said.

Despite solitary confinement, Woodfax never gave up the hopes of being released. 

“That’s the one thing I didn’t give up. When this first started out, we knew that, if we were going to survive, we had to look for strength from the outside, from society, so instead of turning inward and becoming institutionalized, we decided that we would turn outward to society.” (NPR’s All Things Considered 2016)

Leslie George, Woodfax’s partner, co-authored his 2019 memoir Solitary, which “became a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist.”

Reports read that Albert’s murder conviction was overturned multiple times while he was in solitary confinement. He was officially set free on his 69th birthday back in 2016 after a plea deal to lesser charges.

Praying for his family and loved ones during this time.