Black Panther activist Albert Woodfox released from jail after 43 years in solitary confinement

The last inmate of a group known as the “Angola Three” pleaded no contest Friday to manslaughter in the 1972 death of a prison guard and was released after more than four decades in prison.

Albert Woodfox and two other men became known as the “Angola Three” for their decades-long stays in isolation at the Louisiana Penitentiary at Angola and other prisons. Officials said they were kept in solitary confinement because their Black Panther Party activism would otherwise rile up inmates at the maximum-security prison farm in Angola.

Woodfox consistently maintained his innocence in the killing of guard Brent Miller. He was being held at the West Feliciana Parish Detention Center in St Francisville, about 50km north of Baton Rouge. He was awaiting a third trial in Miller’s death after earlier convictions were thrown out by federal courts for reasons including racial bias in selecting a grand jury foreman.

Woodfox, who turned 69 on the same day he was released from custody, spoke to reporters and supporters briefly outside the jail before driving off with his brother. Speaking of his future plans, he said he wanted to visit his mother’s grave site. She died while he was in prison, and Woodfox said he was not allowed to go to the funeral.

As to whether he would have done anything differently back in 1972, Woodfox responded: “When forces are beyond your control, there’s not a lot you can do. Angola was a very horrible place at the time and everybody was just fighting to survive from day to day.”