Man: You don't cry with tears.
You don't cry literally.
The soul cries.
And it's kind of hard to describe when the soul cries.
I mean, it's... it's a deep...
It's a agony, you know?
Male voice recording: This call originates
from a Louisiana correctional facility
and may be recorded or monitored.
Male voice recording: You have 15 seconds left on this call.
John conyers: One of the amazing things
about the way our founding fathers put the constitution
together was, after they'd finished, there were
a number of people that said, wait a minute,
there's something missing here.
There are not enough specific guarantees to we, the people.
And so they put together this bill of rights,
all of these 10 amendments.
And one of them dealt with the fact
that government can try any of its citizens for a crime,
but no cruel and unusual punishments can be inflicted.
And here come these three men serving
a sentence of imprisonment turned
into solitary confinement.
That is cruel and unusual punishment if there is ever
any accurate use of that term.
Narrator: In Louisiana, there is a place called Angola prison,
where three men have spent longer in solitary confinement
than any other prisoners in America...
For crimes they insist they did not commit.
What has happened to Herman Wallace and Albert woodfox
is one of the most serious indictments of America's
judicial system, because they challenge
age-old assumptions about power and race that lie at its heart.
They have always maintained they were held unjustly because they
were defying abuses of power as members
of the black panther party.
But there is one man who knows what
they are suffering, because he, too, endured a similar fate.
And he will not rest until his comrades are free.
Together, they have become known as the Angola three.
Robert king: To be convicted for a crime
that you know you didn't commit, and you're going
to be in prison for the rest of your life
without the possibility of parole, probation,
or suspension of sentence, and you're in the environment where
you in a cell, in solitary confinement, for from now
on until till you are there, this is terrible.
And without me, and after you're dead, the state of Louisiana
can claim your body.
You belong to the state.
Narrator: The state of Louisiana has been determined
to keep the Angola three behind bars,
because it holds them responsible for the 1972 murder
of a prison guard at Angola.
There's not a year that goes by that I
don't have to relive this.
It just keeps going and going.
And then, these men, I mean, if they did not do this... and I
believe that they didn't...
They have been living a nightmare for these years.
Narrator: The prison is built on a former slave plantation.
It's called Angola because the slaves who once worked the land
came from Angola, in Africa.
Home to over 5,000 inmates, Angola has become
America's largest prison.
It has developed its own distinctive way of life.
Radio dj: Boys and girls, bound or free, black or white,
it's that time again... that's right, the annual prison rodeo.
Narrator: At Angola's rodeo, the most
popular event is convict poker.
The last inmate to get up from the table wins $200.
150 miles down the Mississippi river,
the men destined to become the Angola three
grew up in a New Orleans emerging from segregation.
Robert king: You know, they called
the '50s the golden years, but they were golden for us.
While they may have been golden to some, you know,
it was, like, brown to tin to me, you know?
Because we lived in the shabbiest house on the block,
you know?
And we had to sort of, kind of, you know, use buckets
in places when it rained.
Malik rahim: King and I was raised together.
He got me by about five years.
His back yard and my back yard used to meet.
So, like, king was on summer, and I was on hendy street.
There was in school that was right within two blocks
from my house, had all the amenities.
But we couldn't even go in that yard.
That was a arresting offense.
We actually feared the police.
They call it cleaning the books.
Yeah, the used to clean the books
on a lot of black young men during that time.
Robberies that were committed that...
That went unsolved, they would arrest a young black man
and put the charge on him.
I used to see a police and really just run.
Then he would come back.
And then, the next time I saw him,
he was at a new Orleans police station.
Robert king: You know, I ain't no angel.
Never been a angel.
It wasn't anything vicious though.
You know, I wasn't doing it...
You know, anything that was dastardly or anything
like that, but a burglary or something like that,
or you know, the little theft, you know, walking in a store,
steal something, yeah, of course I did that.
Narrator: Herman Wallace was also finding himself
on the wrong side of the law.
When I saw the name "Herman Wallace,"
I go, wow, bank robbery, 9th street and magazine.
So I knew the whole family.
And he used to walk what we call pigeon-toed, like this.
So we called him "hooks."
And this is how he had that name since he was a little kid.
I was surprised, because he wasn't
the type of guy that would be in and out of the boys' home
or locked down.
He had minor problems, just as the average youngster
would have.
Narrator: While Herman Wallace was facing a long sentence
for his 1967 bank robbery,
woodfox was not far behind him.
Well, you know, I feel like a king, yeah.
I think it was initially, I arrested for maybe
suspicion of armed robbery.
And then it was upgraded, you know, to armed robbery.
I was arrested not because I looked like the perpetrator
or that I was the perpetrator, I was arrested
because I had a record.
And it was one lone black dude on the trial.
He said not guilty.
And then one white dude said not guilty.
And ten other whites found me guilty.
And I ended up getting 35 years.
Narrator: By the end of the 1960s,
all three men had been convicted of separate armed robberies
and faced decades in prison.
But Albert woodfox wasn't going to disappear
without a struggle.
Narrator: The black panthers demanded social justice.
And if white America wouldn't give it to them,
they were prepared to seize it for themselves.
Bobby seale: So the concept is this, basically...
The whole black nation has to be put together as a black army.
And we're going to say to the whole damn government,
stick 'em up, motherfucker.
This is a hold-up.
We come for what's ours.
Narrator: Albert woodfox was impressed by these ideas.
Recaptured in new York, he was detained
in the infamous tombs prison.
Reporter: We were littered with debris from the riot, glass,
masonry, tear gas canisters, even several dead rats thrown
out the windows by the inmates.
Narrator: Ultimately, the panthers' protests
against the horrendous conditions
would lead to the demolition of the prison.
Narrator: Albert was sent back to the new
Orleans parish prison.
Robert king was already there.
By the fall of 1970, outside its walls,
conflicts between the panthers and the police
had reached the desire housing projects of the city.
On September the 15th, we had a shootout with the police
there.
It just so happened I witnessed the...
The shootout.
Because the... they had a television.
And the interruption, the newscaster came on.
When he say that someone was in a house
shooting it out with the police, I must admit,
I really felt proud.
And it was at that time that I really became a... you know,
a active member of the black panther party.
Malik rahim: I mean, it was the first time that the lions ever
attacked the waterhole.
But now, the wildebeest is not running.
But they stood up.
They're saying, to the authorities,
that you cannot come into our community and destroy.
We went from the streets of desire, to court, to death row,
all in one day.
They had told us they was going to execute all of us,
made sure that they allow us to see where
the electric chair was going to be and, you know,
crap like that.
Malik was on the c1, which is...
C1 would be down on the other side.
And it was known, at that time, as a..
Narrator: The authorities hoped that they could neutralize
the black militants in the parish prison
by putting them together with prisoners
they called black gangsters, men like Herman Wallace.
Malik rahim: My first experience with Herman
is I gave him my shoes.
We was on our way to court.
And I seen that he needed some shoes.
Malik rahim: I axed him what size he was.
We was the same size, so I gave him mine.
Malik rahim: That happened to be one of the days I go to court.
And I muzzled that.
You know, it's your old boy.
The boy ain't got no shoes, you know?
Ok, there was a thing.
But I... I knew how it was to be swung down the way they was.
Malik rahim: I knew that I stood a better chance of getting
another pair of shoes, because I know my comrades wouldn't
allow me to go without...
That collective spirit that we had developed,
you know, and the collective spirit that Albert and Herman
still exemplify.
Narrator: The panther tier had brought the Angola three
together for the first time.
But it would not be for long.
In the summer of 1971, Robert king
was left alone in parish prison, because Albert
woodfox and Herman Wallace were sent down a different road.
There was no doubt that they was Angola bound.
Angola bound now.
Angola bound.
Angola bound now.
Angola bound.
I got lucky last summer when I done my time.
Angola bound.
Well, my partner got 100, I got 99.
Angola bound.
You been a long time coming, but you're welcome home.
Angola bound.
Angola, Louisiana, get your burdens on.
Angola bound.
Oh, captain...
Lloyd hoyle: The security of the prison
was in the hands of convicts.
They actually supervised the farm lines where...
Where they had cotton, and corn,
and sugarcane, and so forth.
They actually positioned these convicts out around...
With guns...
Around hundreds of inmates.
Mwalimu Johnson: They are prison guards
that were, in fact, involved with homosexuals inside Angola.
They would give individuals to selected
puppets of theirs who would obey their every Beck and call.
So who are the good guys, and who are the bad guys?
Harry Lucas: Once you enter Angola,
if you wasn't made of a certain,
you would be turn out... we call it turn out, meaning rape.
Some was raped violently.
Some was killed in the process of... of being raped.
And some just submitted to...
When the fresh fish... they actually called it fresh fish...
That mean new convicts coming...
Grab a couple of them boys and hold for me.
Inmate: We start from the time that you go on down the walk.
About a few of the inmates come out, be looking at you, looking
your way, see you who they might to claim for the kid
or who they might be might be able to make pay protection.
Best thing I can tell you is you're...
You should carry your own stuff on down the walk.
Because if you don't, there's a possibility
that, if you do get a help with your stuff,
that somebody's going to by about 9 o'clock
at night and fuck in your ass.
Ex-convict: Man's like me are punch you
in the mouth, ready front the warden,
knowing that, when we both get locked up, when we get over
here, I got my paid card here to put me
and you in the same cell.
And I'm going to beat your ass again,
between you into submitting.
Inmate: Now, I can't tell you how you can do your time.
Nobody can tell you how to do that.
But if you got to fight, fight.
If you got to do whatever you got to do, do it,
you know if you want to stay a man.
Ex-convict: And then naturally, you
arm yourself up, just something like this,
wrapping your arm up.
And when you come out there starting war,
we going to knife fight.
And as is your... Whap, whap, whap.
That's that knife... whap, whap.
Extremely dangerous.
There were some very bad people there.
They did not have the facilities to isolate the troublemakers.
It was a terrible, terrible place.
Robert king: Herman and Albert, they went to Angola at a time
when Angola was considered the bloodiest prison in the nation.
And they were the two who extended the new
Orleans chapter of the black panther party
into a territory that...
That really was alien.
The first thing they did, they wanted
to organize a work stoppage for better working conditions.
And they want to stop the violence
that existed among the inmates.
And they decided to begin holding political class,
teaching inmates, black and white,
about the politics of prison, about the politics of America,
and about the politics of the black panther party.
Man: We want all black brothers and sisters held in federal,
county, state, city jails and prisons to be released,
because they have not had a fair trial.
They've been tried by all-white juries who
have no understanding of the average regional man
in the black community.
Robert king: I think they did good,
because a lot of the... the raping of other young inmates
stopped, brutality by guards.
And it just went on vacation for a minute.
But Herman an Albert, in the process of,
you know, getting this done along with other inmates,
they became targets.
Lloyd hoyle: I mean, it was a culture-type thing
more than anything else.
And you had all these marches going on,
and everything, and Martin Luther King,
and this type of thing going on in society.
And then, here we are trying to integrate a bunch
of hardcore prisoners, see?
Narrator: By the spring of 1972, the authorities
were struggling to cope.
Increasing outbreaks of inmate violence
were straining the prison's resources to breaking point.
Anybody knows that, if you got 100 men
or better in a dormitory...
And you're lucky if you got one officer
to put in there on each shift...
That that's no security.
Narrator: One morning in April, 1972, that lone officer
would be Brent Miller.
This is Brent.
And this was in the front of our home.
Called that car the maroon monster.
It was always breaking down.
And this is Christmas... One Christmas morning...
Brent with my dad and my little brother, Clint.
And this is me.
He just thought I was just, you know, a spicy, little coon ass.
But I was buried at 16, but, um, a widow at 17.
That day, I think I dropped him off at work about 6:00 or 6:30.
And then I went home.
And then I went to school.
And while I was at school, my sister,
she came in with someone with the prison
to tell me that he had been killed.
And then we went back home.
And it was chaos.
That's how I found out.
Anne Butler: They'd staged, kind of, a strike in the cafeteria,
which pulled some of the correctional officers off
of the walk, leaving Brad Miller totally alone with, you know,
hundreds of inmates to watch.
Whenever ever the convicts go to the mess hall,
you lock the damn door, and you stand out on the hall, visible.
You don't sit in a dormitory and drink coffee with your back
to the door.
Anne Butler: He really should not have been there.
He should have been the one taking the people
to eat in the cafeteria and going to help
with the disturbance there.
But he had gone into one of the dormitories, and sat on a cot,
and was having coffee with this elderly black inmate.
And that's when the...
The killing happened.
That was like a slaughterhouse in there.
Narrator: Brent Miller was stabbed 32 times
and left to die in a pool of blood.
Teenie verret: It was really bad.
It was hard to talk about that.
But, um, I can remember being in our room,
and the priest coming.
And they wanted me to go to Mrs. Miller's.
And it was just...
It was crazy.
It was just crazy.
There's so much in and outs, you know?
But...
Man: Now, when you have a killing like that,
you have to interview every prisoner down there.
Narrator: After just two days of investigation,
four leading black militants, including Herman and Albert,
were accused of the murder.
The case against one of the four collapsed when it was revealed
that he had been inserted into the case
by those within the prison administration determined
to discredit the black panthers.
He had nothing to do with the crime at all.
Witnesses placed him in other locations
at the time of the killing.
Narrator: And in a dramatic turn of events,
another defendant, Chester Jackson,
admitted to holding Miller during the murder.
It's not a one-man deal, Chester Jackson, with that boy,
as far as I'm concerned.
There were two or more of them until they subdued him
enough where he was immobile.
In my mind... and I got 40 years of experience around convicts...
Those three men murdered that boy.
Narrator: Chester Jackson turned state's evidence mid-trial
in return for accepting the lesser plea of manslaughter,
and that left Albert woodfox and Herman Wallace facing
the prospect of conviction for the gravest of crimes,
the murder of a prison guard.
The nearest town to Angola is the historic community
of St. francisville, and it was here in may 1972
that they were committed for trial
by a grand jury drawn from the still grieving local populace.
He said, where the black people is?
I was curious myself.
Was all white jury.
Not one black person was on it.
So the judge told him, get him out of here.
Get him out.
I stood up.
I said, listen.
And Herman, when he was pulling him,
he had his hand peace and power.
He said, take care.
Ok.
I couldn't attend any trials.
And I was afraid I'd see something I didn't
want to see, you know, I just...
I just couldn't do it.
I didn't want no part of it.
Vicky Wallace: I got up and I turned around to them
people in the back who they say my brother killed, I said,
how in the hell you all going to say my brother
killed Joe's son.
My brother ain't not murderer.
He ain't never killed nobody in his life.
And my mama said, shut up, Vicky.
I said, mother, I'm not going to shut
up because they got it wrong.
Lloyd hoyle: In my mind, I mean I'm 81.
I'd go to my grave knowing that those people
were the perpetrators.
Period.
No question in my mind.
Teenie verret: I was glad, you know.
I've trusted that they had the right people.
I trusted everything.
And I totally wholeheartedly believed that they
had the ones that killed him.
Narrator: Herman and Albert were sentenced to life.
And for them, the Angola administration
added their own special punishment,
solitary confinement in closed cell restriction, or ccr.
Revd.
John: Where the cells in ccr where, them cells would make
you lose your mind, make you go crazy, if you ain't strong,
you know?
Because being locked up...
A dog don't want to be locked up 24 hours a day, you know?
A dog wants some freedom too.
I cut myself here, and I cut myself here trying to get
out them cells to the hospital.
Narrator: Prisoners were only supposed to be
locked up in ccr temporarily.
In theory, it was while they were
deemed to be a danger to themselves
or to other prisoners.
But the Angola authorities simply
signed the forms every 90 days.
And Herman and Albert were trapped.
They began a life in isolation that
was to last more than 40 years.
Decades passed, and long after they should have been released
from their original sentences, Herman
and Albert remain in Angola because
of the murder of Brent Miller.
It wasn't until the 1990s that a new generation of lawyers
emerged, prepared to take a fresh look at their case.
Scott Fleming: Soon as I became a lawyer,
they were my first clients.
At that point, with the exception of their families
and maybe a couple of friends, nobody in the outside world
even knew that they existed.
Nick trenticosta: First file I read was Herman's trial.
And I looked at it, and said, you know,
this doesn't look like a solid conviction.
And then I read Albert's trial.
And Albert's trial, to me, was obfuscation after obfuscation.
The prosecution was trying to paint him
as a racist radical hell-bent on overthrowing
the United States government.
I mean, it was that flavor of his trial
that told me, wait a minute.
Where's the proof?
You can throw out a lot of innuendo and a lot of rhetoric,
but where's the proof?
Scott Fleming: One of the witnesses
who testified against Albert was a prisoner
by the name of Paul fobb.
Paul fobb's testimony is totally improbable.
He testified that on the morning of the murder
he saw Albert woodfox walk into the dormitory.
Now, we know based on his medical records,
that he was so blind, he couldn't
have recognized anybody walking into the dormitory.
But this man testified for the state at a murder trial.
The proof was boiled down to really one person,
a man named Hezekiah brown.
Hezekiah first told the investigators at the prison
that he didn't know anything about the murder.
A few days later, he's dragged from his bed at midnight,
put under the bright lights of interrogation,
and told if you help us crack the case,
we will get you your freedom.
At that point, he said it was Wallace and woodfox.
Narrator: Local author, Anne Butler's research recordings
provided evidence of just how pliable
Hezekiah brown could be.
Scott Fleming: Immediately after he gave the authorities
information he was transferred to the most minimum security
part of the prison.
He was given a private house of his own on prison grounds.
And on the orders of the warden, he
was given a carton of cigarettes every week by the state.
A carton of cigarettes in prison is currency.
Nick trenticosta: Obviously though the reward of freedom
is everything to a life prisoner.
Scott Fleming: And eventually he was released,
and he died a free man.
Narrator: After decades of fighting their convictions
from their cells, in 1992, Albert
won an appeal which forced prosecutors
to present his case to a new grand jury
back in the St. Francisville courthouse.
And despite the fact she had already written about the case,
Anne Butler was chosen as the chairperson of the grand jury.
Anne Butler: I had already written this book
I had extensively researched it, knew a lot about the case,
and asked to be excused.
But the district attorney felt differently and insisted
that I stay on the grand jury.
This is an unusual judicial district
because people in the jury pool are employed at Angola
or married to people at Angola.
So it's hard to get a jury that's
totally uninvolved with Angola.
Narrator: Anne Butler and the St. francisville jurors
were asked once again to consider whether Hezekiah
brown was a credible witness.
Anne Butler: Hezekiah was very credible.
He convinced the entire grand jury.
Nick trenticosta: Years later, documents show he was promised
freedom for his testimony.
Narrator: The co-author of Anne Butler's book
was her then husband, Murray Henderson, warden of Angola
at the time of the murder, the same man who had campaigned so
vigorously for Hezekiah brown's release,
and one of the key people in charge
of the original investigation.
But that investigation seem prepared to discard
a dramatic piece of evidence found close to Miller's body.
Teenie verret: What really got me
was that this one fingerprint...
I mean, they have all these inmates in there
and I'm sure all their fingerprints on.
I mean, they're not going nowhere.
You know, why couldn't they find out who that belonged to?
When you have a murder case that had a very bloody crime
scene and you have a bloody fingerprint right next
to the body of the victim, that's a obviously very
important piece of evidence.
And when you have this murder scene happen
to be inside a prison, which is a unique environment
because everybody there has been fingerprinted,
that seems to me to be the key to solving the murder.
And in this case, the state didn't try to find out who left
this bloody fingerprint behind.
They established that this bloody fingerprint didn't
belong to Albert woodfox or Herman Wallace
or anybody else who was suspected of the murder.
But they never took the steps to just try
to find out who it belong to, which seems to me
just beyond incompetent.
It seems malicious.
Narrator: The authorities were convinced
that the murder of a white prison guard
had been the result of a black militant conspiracy.
Just two weeks after Miller's killing,
as part of the roundup of black radicals,
Robert king was brought to Angola from New Orleans.
I was 150 miles away from Angola
and hadn't been in Angola for six months prior to his death.
Had never met the man in my life,
but I was investigated for that.
The fact is that I was a member of the black panther party,
and they saw me as being some kind of forward conspirator.
And from there, they determined that I would be sent
to ccr where Herman and Albert was, along with other members
of the black panther party whom they had scooped up en masse
and had placed in cells around the prison.
They told me I was being investigated
for a death of Brent Miller.
I said, why am I being inves...
I said, I wasn't even in Angola.
You know?
And nevertheless, that's what it was.
I was being investigated.
I was under investigation from 1972 when they put me in ccr
until the time I was released.
Malik rahim: He was in ccr for a murder
that they knew he couldn't have commit.
Under investigation.
Because he wound up doing all 29 years in solitary
under investigation...
What investigation take 29 years?
Narrator: There was never any evidence
of Robert's involvement in Miller's murder,
but the Angola authorities soon found another reason to keep
him in solitary confinement.
An inmate was murdered in a knife
fight on Robert's ccr tier.
Robert king: The opened up all of the cells
and let everybody out to shower.
This is how everybody was out in the hall that morning.
Narrator: One prisoner called Grady brewer admitted
this killing in self-defense, but Robert
was also held responsible.
They saw an opportunity to inject me, insert me into it.
Despite the fact that the coroner's report stated
that blood was found only on one of the knives
that they have found.
And my fingerprint wasn't on nothing.
No blood was ever found on any piece of clothing of mind.
On the other hand, the shirt that Grady had on...
And he wasn't trying to hide it... was drenched
in blood because, you know, he admitted he
had killed him in self-defense.
Nevertheless, they got someone to say that I
had also participated in.
So I was charged with the murder,
and we went to trial jointly.
Narrator: Like Herman and Albert before him,
Robert found himself in the St. francisville courthouse.
Robert king: A trial date was about to be set without our
having even talk to the attorneys
that they had appointed to us.
Grady was more outspoken than I was.
And the judge, you know, he kept telling...
Your honor, I don't want to go to trial with these lawyers.
They can't protect me.
They can't defend me.
They haven't even heard, you know.
I chimed in also.
They don't know anything about the case,
and Grady kept talking.
And I think the judge sort of said, shut up.
I'm talking!
And he said, but your honor, I need a lawyer.
I can't stand to be.
And the judge said, one more word out of you,
and I got something for you.
And well, Grady, he said, I don't open my mouth.
But you got it.
I don't say one more word.
And at that, the judge called to sheriff
and said, bound him and gag him.
And we sat there, had duct tape over our mouths, shackled,
and our hands was handcuffed behind our back.
And I was convicted.
Narrator: And so Robert again disappeared back
into the depths of Angola alongside Albert and hermann
in solitary confinement.
Congressman John conyers: The court never
said that these men will be sentenced
to solitary confinement for life.
That wasn't the sentence.
Yes, people that transgress the law must be punished,
but there is a humane consideration in how
that punishment is exacted.
Narrator: Every 90 days their status was reviewed,
but the administration always insisted that they were
a threat to the general prison population
and kept them in solitary confinement.
Nick trenticosta: It doesn't take but a few years for one
to begin "losing their mind."
Our clients are extraordinary.
They have kept their minds active.
They have studied.
They've enrolled in college courses.
Something to keep their mind active.
Robert king: They didn't allow us to be in the same cell.
So we were in different cells.
So we called our spots out.
We would say pawn to..
The pawn were easy.
The rooks was relatively, with a nice...
Sometimes they fall.
We used to take toothpaste... We were allowed to have
toothpaste and toothbrush...
And we would take toilet paper...
And for instance, like these squares,
we used to take and glue this together
and we'd take toothpaste and glue it to the floor.
And we did 64 of them.
And then we make the chessboard out the toilet paper.
Over the years, I spent quite a few hours playing chess
but still get kind of tested sometimes.
I could beat Albert on the chessboard,
but Herman was kind of more difficult.
Narrator: By 1996, Robert Herman and Albert
should all have been released from their original sentences
for robbery.
Instead, years passed with the Angola 3 still
languishing in solitary confinement,
unnoticed by all but a few.
Malik rahim: I hadn't made contact with Herman or Albert,
and I had to honor commitments.
And my commitment to them was that I would
never allow people to forget.
You know, and so with that, we started a support committee.
Narrator: But the authorities had an answer for the defiance
of the Angola 3.
Malik rahim: One of the things they
used to keep inmates in line is the threat
the sentiment of ccr.
But then inside ccr, there's a hole.
There's a hole within the hole.
That hole is called camp j.
It was a situation that a person really
needed every ounce of whatever it takes to survive,
whatever wit.
You know?
And some people managed to do that.
Narrator: Even with the threat of being sent
to the dungeons of camp j, the Angola 3 continue
to demand basic human rights.
They became prison litigators.
They were suing the penitentiary on all kinds of issues.
They became extraordinary lawyers.
They did their best to stop us.
Several times, they kind of spread us out
and put us in different places.
But I think they kind of realized that in doing that,
they wasn't doing nothing but maybe distributing
what they wanted to contain.
So they decided to keep us all in one place.
I remember I used to determine how wide the cell was
by the outstretch of my arm.
And I barely really make both hands touch the wall.
You know, I look at the cell...
Six by nine by 12.
One, two, three, four.
Walk to the left.
And then I would walk to the right.
You'd be surprised how long it takes to do 5,000 steps.
You're just trying to get out of the space, you know,
that you have.
Become part of your habitat.
But, yeah.
This cell here... it's not an exact replica.
But hey, this is about as close as you could get using wood.
You know?
Some guy's got fancy.
They'd begin to put drawings on in there and color it up.
Put the tablecloth on there.
And so they thought we were having fun.
Then they decided to come over and cut the holes in the bars.
Narrator: The Angola 3's struggle for prisoner rights
came from their belief in the black panthers' demands
that African-Americans be treated as equal human beings.
They insist modern America should live
up to its founding principles.
Bobby seale: We just want the courts
to make sure we have peers on the jury, people
from the black community, as defined
by their jive constitution of the so-called United States.
Robert king: The black panthers believed in the constitution.
The constitution states that a person shall be tried
by the jury of their peers.
And there were no black people in this country
who were ever tried by their peers at that particular time.
So we want them to be free.
Narrator: In the year 2000, Robert's new lawyer
was able to use the panthers' demand
for representative juries to get his case reopened.
The courts found that, like Herman and Albert,
Robert's conviction rested on unreliable inmate testimony
and was judged unsound.
The words are beautiful.
Narrator: It had taken 29 years.
Chris aberle: A negotiation was had.
They said, well, we'll go in to the state court, where we are
now, and we will say his conviction
should be reversed if he pleads guilty now to a lesser crime.
That way they get a conviction, and he gets to go out.
It's not the exoneration or the vindication
he wanted, but freedom.
I guess the last time I was coming up these stairs,
I came up with two security guards, one on both sides.
He said the state had told him
that if I was willing to plead guilty to accessory
after the fact that I would be released and walk out.
And I thought about it and thought about it.
And it donned on me that well, pleading guilty to accessory
they could have charged anybody with that, any of the 13 people
who resided on the tier at the time
because we all know somebody had been killed.
And so this was the reason why I..
No problem.
I'll accept that plea.
That's when I had to break the news
that they'd changed the plea from accessory to a conspiracy.
Conspiracy, yeah.
Then I came out here and told you about it.
And as I recall, your first instinct was not to accept it.
I went back in an told the da no deal.
I came back, and I think we said goodbye right here at the door.
What they were saying was really tempting.
And the fact of my getting out after 31 years,
it was so appealing.
But at the same time, you know, it's not getting out.
It's just how you get out.
I was thinking about this.
Chris aberle: Well, you wanted a vindication.
Right.
Chris aberle: And it was my first case,
and I wanted to out right win.
And then we got into the real world,
and the state didn't want to take
a chance of losing out right.
And we didn't want to take a chance of you standing in jail
for the rest of your life.
Well, like I said, you know, I guess time
and history will determine whether or not
the right decision was made.
I think being out of jail an hour
and a half later was the proof enough that you
made the right decision.
Yeah.
I went on home.
And the judge... you know, you have to raise your right hand
and tell the truth.
I needed to defy, and I knew I needed to defy.
So when he asked me to raise my right hand
that I was telling the truth, I raised my left hand.
Nobody, none of my supporters at court saw it.
But the district attorney saw it, and he looked at me.
But he didn't say anything.
The juries didn't notice it.
And in a way, I was kind of glad because it
really would have been a...
May have been an embarrassing situation.
And then maybe not have turned out
the way it did because I probably would have continued
to raise my left hand.
Walked down.
They was still in St. Francisville courthouse.
And they congratulate me and they will be..
So when the officer called me, told me to get your stuff.
You're going.
I thought he was really joking, you know?
He said, no. He said, you going home.
You ready to go?
You ready to go there, old soldier?
That's what the officer said.
I said, of course I'm ready to go home.
He said, well, you're going home right now.
You're not going home tomorrow.
He was the officer that was pretty cool.
He said, well, I'm going to let you holler
at your buddies.
It was difficult because when I walk out,
I would like to have walk out with Herman and Albert,
which I know it was not possible.
But I think I walked out with a purpose.
It was then and there that I made
a determination that I would be a Thorn in the flesh of Angola.
I would throw all kind of monkey wrenches in the machine.
And I'm still.
I'm free free from Angola, but Angola isn't free of me.
And when I walked out that day, the cheers
just went up, you know.
Everybody was hollering and cheering.
I see all these people and more who had been to the courthouse.
We pull on away from Angola, and I guess
I've been moving ever since.
I may be free of Angola, but Angola
will never be free of me.
Narrator: When body shop founder Anita roddick heard
about Robert's release in the Angola support committee,
she visited Albert.
Her backing helped bring their campaign
to worldwide attention.
Reporter: Despite the compelling evidence
of a terrible miscarriage of justice,
Wallace and woodfox remain behind bars
here in solitary confinement now for 34 years.
Robert king: If there is any case
that requires some type of judicial scrutiny,
it is this case.
Cedric Richmond: Today I'm announcing that the judiciary
committee in the house of representatives
will hold hearings on what is commonly known as the Angola 3.
Robert king who's to the left of me
served 29 years in solitary confinement
in Angola for a crime that he did not commit.
However, there are two gentlemen that are still in Angola
with two weeks shy of 36 years in solitary confinement
for a crime that they most likely did not commit,
which is why we're here today.
You have to be kidding.
Solitary confinement for almost 36 years?
That's just wrong.
I mean, by any stretch of the imagination, it's just wrong.
So I realized, once again, we'd look
like a backwards state doing something inhumane to people.
So I got involved, and I said how can I help.
Narrator: In march 2008, Cedric Richmond
visited Herman and Albert in ccr and he brought a colleague
from Washington with him.
Congressman John conyers: I was at Angola prison.
Those of us who were there had the most animated,
thoughtful, intelligent discussion.
These people, their spirit isn't broken.
I want to pledge to you the secure...
The release of those two incredibly brave men
who withstood the terror and oppression
of the failed criminal justice system in our society.
Cedric Richmond: It was days after congressman conyers
and myself visited Angola that Herman and Albert were released
from solitary confinement.
I don't even think it was a week.
They released them and put them in a dormitory style setting.
Congressman John conyers: There's only one chairman
of the house judiciary committee I presume that may
have had some effect upon them.
They knew I wasn't down there to get a front seat for the rodeo.
Scott Fleming: Well, on September 11, 2008, judge Brady
of the federal court in Baton Rouge
overturned Albert's conviction.
Reporter: This is just the latest in the saga
concerning the Angola 3.
A federal judge, James Brady, says
Louisiana must release Albert woodfox on bail
or drop the charges.
Reporter: Woodfox's attorneys say he'll leave Angola once he
finds a suitable place to live.
Many supporters believe the Angola 3 were framed
for their political activism.
Narrator: A few weeks later, Albert was taken out of Angola,
but he wasn't being released.
He was sent 250 miles north to a new prison
while Herman was sent 100 miles south to the hunt
correctional facility, both thrown
back into solitary confinement.
The man responsible for the fate of the Angola 3 and the man
convinced they should stay in jail for the 1972 murder
is Louisiana attorney general buddy Caldwell.
Buddy Caldwell: The real issue is
was Hezekiah brown and the other witnesses,
were they telling the truth and did a jury believe them?
And that is where the rubber meets the road.
So that's why I stress we're looking at a technical argument
as to whether you want to technically get somebody
off and exclude Hezekiah brown's testimony,
which is important eyewitness testimony, some 30 years later.
That's the remaining issue that we have.
You have a federal court here that said Albert's right
to counsel was violated, that his right to due process was
violated, that his right to cross-examine the witnesses
against him was violated, and those
aren't mere technicalities.
Those are core constitutional rights.
I would say the jury is charged in every case
to look at the credibility.
They can take all or some or part of what a witness says
and judge that to be a truth and put it in perspective.
Well, the jury system is a great system,
but it only works when the jury has
all of the relevant evidence in front of them.
And in a case like this, when the state has a continuing
pattern of hiding important evidence,
it's impossible for the jury to render a meaningful decision
because they don't know that withesses have been bribed.
They don't know that witnesses have changed their stories.
I feel good about this record and that it is a good record.
We'll have to address the legal issues in court.
Narrator: But while the state prepared to appeal,
Caldwell faced the prospect of Albert leaving prison on bail.
The judge was quite impressed, I think, with our evidence.
I think he's inclined to release Albert.
The state wants to say Albert is a danger to society.
I don't think it's going to impress the judge one bit.
Reporter: A former black panther could be spending even more
time in jail thanks to aggravated rape
and armed robbery charges dating back four decades.
Now Attorney General buddy Caldwell
says he will pursue six aggravated rape cases and six
counts of armed robbery if woodfox
is released before a retrial on the murder charge.
The prosecution never charged Albert with a rape
because the women who were raped did not
identify Albert as the rapist.
But of course attorney general Caldwell
didn't explain that to people.
The fact that Albert was a black panther at Angola
in 1972, the fact that he was trying to reform the prison...
What Albert was doing at that time
was messing with the status quo.
And we don't let our black men do that in this country.
Narrator: Albert's bail application was abandoned
in a climate of racial tension.
When a white man stands up and says
this black man is a rapist, these are words that
go back for hundreds of years.
This has always been a tactic used by racist
to discredit black men.
Narrator: While Herman and Albert attempted
to get their convictions overturned,
the Angola 3 began a civil lawsuit
to challenge the legality of their
prolonged solitary confinement.
They see their fight as being something that of course they
had to fight and that they weren't doing
on their own behalf, that they are
fighting for all of the people in solitary confinement.
Buddy Caldwell: The danger in a case like this
is after 30 years, all the witnesses start dying.
So if you can outlast them, maybe you can go free.
They are playing for time hoping each man dies,
and they will not have to face these charges.
And that's what this lawsuit is.
It is charging the government with illegal conduct.
Narrator: The state was adamant that regardless of Herman
and Albert's treatment in prison,
they were still guilty of the murder of Brent Miller.
And so despite the federal judge's ruling,
buddy Caldwell refused to release Albert.
He was determined to get the conviction reinstated.
The only place in Louisiana which
could empower him to do so was the 5th circuit
court of appeals.
It's very easy to say I'm tough on crime
and if it's the last thing I do, I'm going to make sure
that that prison guard killer, that cop killer essentially,
stays locked up for the rest of his life, that gets you votes.
It's wrong.
It's not at all accurate.
It doesn't reflect what he's doing
or who he's supposedly protecting
the state of Louisiana from, but it makes for good politics.
Narrator: The attorney general persuaded
the appeals court to reinstate Albert's conviction.
Once again, the criminal justice system closed its doors
and Albert was sent back into solitary confinement.
Even if for a second we assume that
Albert did what he was convicted of... and that's a big if...
But if for a minute we assume he did that, our experts have told
the state over and over again what you're doing
doesn't make sense even then because it's been decades
since the alleged crime.
And it's been decades of good behavior, decades of no problem
within the prison system.
And so at this point, it really is
just cruel and unusual treatment that doesn't make sense.
The prison is no safer because we keep Albert woodfox locked
in a cell 23 hours a day.
If anything, we're diverting resources
to somebody who doesn't need that level of supervision
away from some folks who maybe need it a little bit more.
Congressman John conyers: Their cases are the classic example
of why we must reduce or end the overuse
of solitary confinement.
But no question about it that they are very important.
Scott Fleming: Long-term solitary confinement
has become a regularized practice in American prisons.
And Albert and Herman may be the leading edge of this practice,
but there are thousands of prisoners
now in every state who've been in solitary confinement
for five, 10, 15, or more years.
It could be as high as over 100,000 people a day
in solitary confinement, and that's just
a number that's far too high.
But this is just something we ought not do.
Narrator: The campaign against Louisiana's treatment of Herman
and Albert had brought the wider issue of solitary confinement
into the limelight, both in Washington and abroad.
By 2013, the case of the Angola 3
was becoming an international scandal.
For amnesty international, it is deeply shocking
to know that there are two men who have spent almost 40 years,
practically every day of that 40 years, in solitary confinement.
And I think that when the us behaves like this, when it
treats people in its prison system in this way,
it demeans itself in front of the rest of the world.
Mr. woodfox is being held in conditions
that amount to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment
at least, if not torture.
There's no question that his conditions inflict on him
the kind of pain and suffering of a mental nature
that is associated with torture, and I think that should stop.
Automated phone operator: You have
15 seconds left on this call.
Man: In early 2013, Herman began losing weight.
And I was visiting with him, and I couldn't
believe who I was seeing.
It was clear to all of us working on his case
that Herman has some serious illness here,
and it's not being treated properly.
When we got his medical records and we intervened
with the doctors at the prison, they
sent him to lsu medical school where he was
diagnosed with liver cancer.
And the tumor on his liver was the size of a small baguette.
What was happening is the doctor was completely neglecting
Herman and his health issues.
Cedric Richmond: In between hospital visits,
they send you back to solitary.
When you're that old, you're that sick,
you really don't pose a threat to anybody.
So there was no purpose behind him being
in solitary confinement except that it's something personal
with the department and him.
Narrator: And it was precisely treatment like this
that made the Angola 3 determined
to bring their civil case against the state to court even
with Herman now gravely ill.
Katherine kimpel: Because Herman and Robert and Albert
all are plaintiffs together in the case,
they have a right to meet together
to plan their litigation.
And the court had granted that right over the objections
of the state, of course.
On October 1st, we were on our way to the prison
when we got word that he had won.
The federal judge reversed Herman's conviction
and ordered his immediate release from the prison.
Katherine kimpel.: It was Carine driving.
She was so excited, she almost drove us off the road.
I was sitting in the front seat.
Robert was sitting in the back seat.
Robert king: We went on in to visit,
and we had the pleasure of telling him.
He thought when Albert said that, going home.
He said, what?
You going home?
Because he pointed at Albert.
And Albert said, no.
You're going home.
Katherine kimpel: It was a beautiful time to be there
with Robert and with Albert.
Herman was very, very weak, but he came sort of in and out
of being fully present with us.
He definitely knew what was happening.
Yeah.
We have a court order that says he needs
to be released immediately.
And the prison would not release
Herman although the federal court said
you shall release him today.
Katherine kimpel: We had an ambulance come at one point,
and the state turned it away.
We told Herman to hang on because we
were going to get him out.
We petitioned the federal judge again.
And Carine and I immediately went to the courthouse
to let them know that the prison wasn't complying
and wasn't letting him go.
We actually got to the courthouse
just before it was closing.
And the security guard said, what are you guys doing here?
Don't you know everybody's leaving?
It's time to close up for the night.
And we said, no. No.
No.
You have to let us because we want
to be able to argue directly to the judge in person
if we need to.
At 3 or 4 o'clock in the day, the federal judge
issued another ruling and said if he's not released now,
I will hold all of the prison officials in contempt of court
with possible jail sentences.
And the judge told us he wasn't
going to leave his chambers.
He was going to stay in his chambers
and wait until he knew Herman was a free man.
So we got back in the car, started racing back to hunt.
Carine was calling the ambulance on her phone.
I was calling the lawyers who represent the warden at hunt
to let them know it would be a really bad idea to not follow
the court's instructions.
Then she and I are handing to the warden the
printed out order that they were to let Herman go.
And finally just as the sun was setting,
the warden came and told us, ok.
He's going to be able to go.
The sunset was this beautiful purple and pink and orange sky,
and it was just like heaven was putting on a show.
It was a great night.
Mr. Wallace is gravely ill.
I've been told he hadn't spoken more than two
words in the last three days.
He had quite a few words for us this morning, including
wow, including this is good.
He asked us what are the chances he would be released
in time before he passed away.
We didn't know.
So it will be great to see him come out of those gates
right there.
It's bittersweet knowing that he's
been incarcerated this long, but there is some comfort in that.
It was very important to Mr. Wallace
that he die on free soil.
After 41 years of being told you
committed a crime of which we know he didn't and 41 years
solitary confinement, Herman Wallace
is going to roll down the highway a free man.
There is nothing that compares to that,
but I knew his days were short.
And so it wasn't all joy.
We'll take good care of you, buddy.
Everybody's smiling.
Everybody is smiling, yes.
And you're smiling.
Both of you guys with a smile.
I'm going to see you soon in New Orleans.
Reporter: Supporters in new Orleans cheer the release
of Herman Wallace of the Angola 3,
freed after serving nearly 42 years in solitary confinement,
longer than any other prisoner in the United States.
Supporters say he is near death.
It wasn't in vain.
It wasn't... the sacrifices that he made,
the travails that he went through,
the disappointments that he probably got,
him not getting out.
And I really was looking forward to him getting out.
Yeah.
But... anyway...
Cedric Richmond: It was a long, long effort.
And I think that once Herman was released a free man,
I think that's what he was fighting for all that time.
And he was at peace with himself.
And he maintains his innocence to the end.
And I think that, for him, he had won that fight.
Malik rahim: What happened to Herman is a tragedy.
It's a tragedy that this state after viewing all the evidence,
after seeing the support that this man had been
able to acquire globally, after reading amnesty's report
for their release, it was a tragedy
that this man be released just three days before he died.
They done sucked all the life out of him.
That was the worst part of his death.
That was the tragedy of his death.
The greatness of his death...
Herman died one block from where he was raised.
He was able to, upon his release, go
back to his old neighborhood.
Go back to one block from the church
where he got baptized in, a half a block from my house
that he was raised in.
He was back in his neighborhood when he died.
And he died in a way that they cannot ever again say that he
was a racist because he died in a home of a white
couple that stood for justice.
Ashley wennerstrom: Some of the physicians
encouraged us to go ahead and just check him
into a hospice facility because they knew he wasn't going
to last much longer, but ultimately we
decided he'd spent his entire life in a facility,
in an institution.
And we thought let's let him die in a home.
So we brought him back here.
And it was funny.
In the many times that I had always told him
that he was welcome in my home and he could
stay in the guest bedroom.
He would always just give me a really hard time about it.
Woman, you ain't putting me in no damn guest bedroom...
Because he just wanted the best for himself.
So when we got him set up, I said, all right.
You know where you are now.
And he just kind of grumbled, damn guest bedroom.
And just throughout the next couple days
we had so many friends and family,
you know, nieces and nephews that Herman had never
had a chance to meet since he'd been incarcerated
for so long and friends that he had been
incarcerated with formerly.
My home has never felt so filled with love
as it did in those few days.
And, you know, we tried to make it as pleasant
as we possibly could.
We showed him little bits of films.
We played music for him.
We read to him.
I had gone out just before he got
here and got him some flowers.
And so I took out different individual flowers
and held them up to his nose.
I said, you know, here's a Lily and you can smell that.
Take some deep breaths.
When my husband woke up probably about six that morning
and went down to check on him, and then he came and woke me
up and said, he's gone.
And that was it.
So it was... it was hard, obviously,
but it was also really, really lovely and really beautiful.
I never imagined that I could feel so much joy
while watching your friend die.
It sounds very strange, but, you know,
I was just so, so relieved that he was finally free
and in a place where he was loved
and with people who cared about him so much.
So we definitely gave him a good send off.
He has been very instrumental in shining a light on injustice
in American courts, put a bright light on the fact
that thousands of prisoners in this country
are sitting in solitary confinement.
He let the world know what is going on in American prisons
today.
Narrator: Herman's passing was noted in congress
as a fighter against the injustice of
long-term solitary confinement.
You know, they killed the man through neglect.
The prison didn't have any kind of scanning equipment.
A month before Herman left prison, one of those scanners
was being put into the hospital at the prison
so they can possibly diagnose other prisoners properly.
That's a legacy.
Narrator: Herman Wallace died a free man after 41 years
in solitary confinement.
Narrator: With Robert king released and Herman Wallace
dead, Albert woodfox was the last surviving member
of the Angola 3 behind bars.
In 2013, the federal court in Louisiana
once again judged Albert's conviction to be unsound,
and again the state refused to release him.
Forced to wait for yet another appeal at the fifth circuit
court, Albert was still deemed a risk to other prisoners
and so was kept in solitary confinement
where he was subject to daily humiliations.
Cedric Richmond: Every time you think
that you're moving forward and we're making some progress,
they go do something that's just dumb.
And I think the strip searches is the best example of how they
just resort to whatever tactics they want,
even though the court has ruled almost 30 years
earlier that you can't do that.
This is personal between the department
of corrections and Albert.
They are going above and beyond to do outrageous things
to one, humiliate, two, to make their life just a living hell.
Malik rahim: My biggest fear is that Albert's released,
everybody's happy, everybody go away happy,
and then there's the continuation
of this injustice that was inflicted on him
is inflicted upon someone else.
And then it take them 40 years.
And then a next one 40 years.
Robert king: We are hoping that the judge will use
the moral, you know, equation as well because this case is just,
you know, not just about legal precept,
and this is what we are hoping that the judge just
do the right thing.
Narrator: In 2014, despite all the appeals from the state,
the fifth circuit upheld the judge's ruling
and unanimously agreed that Albert's
conviction was unsound.
But buddy Caldwell was determined
to keep Albert in jail.
He moved him to the prison in the shadow of the St.
Francisville courthouse where he was going
to try him for the third time.
Both sides prepared for another grueling struggle
through the courts.
But in an unprecedented declaration,
the federal judge insisted that Albert
had no prospect of a fair trial and ordered
his immediate release.
Robert king: So, you know, when you ask why...
What obsession, you know, that the state has in continuing
this persecution of Albert...
I call it persecution, not prosecution...
It's because they're trying to validate their careers.
In order to do that, they have to make sure
their conviction is secured.
Buddy Caldwell, exactly what
motivates this enemy.
But anyway, I guess I'm hopeful for Albert's sake.
It could happen.
I feel like it's close...
Or it's getting closer.
How's that?
Narrator: On the 12th of June 2015,
the media gathered in St. francisville
in expectation of Albert's release.
Reporter: In a third trial in connection to the 1972
stabbing death, a brutal death, of a prison guard,
Brent Miller...
The only outcome that can serve
the interests of law and justice would be Mr.
Woodfox's immediate release.
Thank you.
Narrator: Although the fifth circuit had agreed
that Albert's conviction was unsound,
it decided that the judge had gone
too far in dismissing the state's demands to retry him.
Robert king: This says a lot about America.
America is not just a country.
It is a country that prides itself, you know,
with evenhanded democracy, and it has failed.
It's failed in this particular case.
Albert remains in prison.
Cedric Richmond: Albert's case highlights all of the bad
that's involved in our system.
It's still my cause.
I'm still going to work every day to make sure that people
who are wrongly convicted get out,
that people who are solitary arbitrarily are out.
And it's bipartisan.
Senator mccain believes that.
I believe that.
President Obama believes that.
Narrator: Then there was an election for the office
of Louisiana Attorney General.
After a campaign dogged by accusations of cronyism,
buddy Caldwell's eight year reign
seemed to be coming to an end.
It doesn't look good now.
I can't say that it looks great, you know, but at the same time,
I'm not going to concede something that I haven't lost.
I've had too many juries stay out for too long.
Cedric Richmond: It is ironic that he
said that as long as he was Attorney General,
he would stay in.
Well, Albert outlived that.
Thank you ladies and gentleman.
And the voters of the state of Louisiana
have made their choice in the Attorney General's race.
Albert woodfox: Every once in a while you get lucky,
and I think that's what happened with me.
Reporter: Now to some breaking news.
A plea deal will mean the release
of a man who has been locked up for more than 40 years.
Albert woodfox, one of the prisoners known as the Angola
3, celebrated his 69th birthday by walking out
a Louisiana jail.
Reporter: Albert woodfox pleaded no contest
this morning to the death of an Angola prison guard.
Today's plea deal to a lesser charge
means that woodfox will be released.
And woodfox has maintained his innocence
and says he only took the plea deal because of concerns
about his age and health.
Albert woodfox: It didn't become real to me
until my brother walked me through the door,
and I couldn't believe it because one thing I kept
telling myself, stand tall.
Be proud.
You earned this.
Albert woodfox: First thing that happened when I took
my first step is one of my knees buckled,
and my brother grabbed me.
And thankfully, the car was in the way.
And I was able to sit in the car with some dignity
rather than just getting up off the ground.
Reporter: How are you feeling? Woman: Happy birthday!
We love youl!
Reporter: How do you feel?
Right now, just resigned to trying to adjust being free.
I'm not allowing myself to go beyond those thoughts.
It's strange because I consider myself to be free.
My body may have been held in captivity, but from the time
I joined the black panther party, my mind has grown.
You know, I didn't just survive ccr, I became strong.
Man: Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Albert woodfox.
Narrator: Within hours of being released,
Albert was together again with his black panther comrades.
Man: Another from Angola 3,
brother Robert.
Narrator: For the first time in 43 years outside of jail,
Albert was reunited with Robert king.
What do you plan on doing now that you're free.
Because of the hard work that my comrade and best friend king
and all of my comrades on this stage and my brother have done,
it gives me maybe a couple of weeks just
to adjust to a cell that's bigger than six by nine.
But I do promise you this, as soon as I get my legs,
you will hear from me.
It's difficult to explain how living with the dreaded debt
for over 40 years, of what it feels
like, what it smells like, what it taste like.
But somewhere inside of me, I knew and I felt that, you know,
they may bend me some.
They may bruise me.
You know, but, they will never break me.
I've seen it... looked in too many eyes
and saw what it felt like to have the spirit broken.
I mean, you break the spirit, that's the foundation
personal, philosophical.
Once you break that spirit, you can't get it back.
So, you know, I made a pledge...
All of us did...
That we would literally die in a cell
if that's what it took to not be broken.
And that's how we lived our lives, you know.
If you fight, you might win.
If you give up, there is sure that you're
going to be defeated.
I don't think any of us could have made
it without the three of us.
Now, I don't want to give this Hollywood
illusion of our friendship.
I mean, there were times when we fought like cats and dogs
over political issues, personal issues, or whatever.
But it was something about being able to look
in their eyes and...
And knowing that they
would never break the faith.
And... and my entire lifetime, both Herman and king
has never broken the faith.
And I think more than anything, you know,
that we accomplished...
To accomplish a friend like... friendship like that
is a rarity.
Congressman John conyers: Well, I
don't know of any place in the world
where people are held in solitary confinement
for decades.
China, Russia, the eastern bloc, dictatorships, nowhere.
The Angola 3 led the way toward the reduction
and eventual end of the overuse of solitary confinement.
And the struggle goes on.
It's not over yet.
Albert woodfox: My life is not going
to be defined by 47 years of solitary confinement
and cruel, unusual, inhumane, unconstitutional,
on any -tutional you can think of treatment.
I don't know exactly what a 69-year-old man
has to offer society.
But I know what this 69-year-old man has to offer,
and that is a determination to help those who
can't help themselves and to protect those
who are too weak to fight.
[Music - man singing Nina Simone's "I wish I knew
I wish I knew how it would feel to be free.
I wish I could break all the chains holding me.
I wish I could say all the things that I should say.
I'd say them loud, say them clear,
for the whole round world to hear.
I wish I could share all the love that's in my heart.
Remove all the bars that keep us apart.
I wish you could know what it means to be me.
Then you'd see and agree that every man should be free.
Well, I wish I could be like a bird in the sky.
How sweet it would be if I found that I could fly.
Oh, I'd soar to the sun and look down on the sea.
Then I'd sing 'cause I know.
Yes, I'd sing 'cause I know how it feels to be free.
I wish I knew how it would feel to be free.
I wish I could break all the chains holding me.
I wish I could say all the things that I should say.
Say them loud, say them clear for the whole damn world
to hear that I know how it feels to be free.