Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Mother Jones: Southern Injustice

After all I've read and written about the Angola 3, it amazes me that I can continue to learn more about the men involved, the case and the system in Louisiana. The latest piece I've seen, for example, written by James Ridgeway and Jean Casella for Mother Jones, contains information about an administrative power struggle in the early 1970's that resulted at one point in a group of Louisiana State Prison staff members shoving Deputy Warden Lloyd Hoyle through a plate glass door, after which he very nearly bled to death. And if this is how they treated "their own," it's not hard to imagine what prisoners were up against at the time Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace (seen above) were railroaded for the murder of a young White prison guard because of their activist stance as members of the Black Panther Party.

Whether or not you've read about the Angola 3 case previously here or elsewhere, I highly recommend reading Ridgeway and Casella's superbly written article. It outlines the most comprehensive history of this now famous and on-going case I've seen to date, as well as the latest developments and the current situation involving "Shaka" Woodfox and "Hooks" Wallace.

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