As one of the Angola Three, I spent twenty-nine years in solitary confinement, at Angola prison, in Louisiana. The two other men, Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox, have been in solitary for three decades. I was released in 2001, but, although a federal judge has overthrown the conviction of Albert Woodfox, and a state court commissioner recommended that Herman Wallace be given a new trial, these decisions have had no effect on their release from solitary. Still, Wallace and Woodfox are unbowed. Both have become canny jailhouse lawyers, and communicate by mail with hundreds of individuals. As I wrote shortly after my release, “There’s no describing the day to day assault on your body and your mind and the feelings of hopelessness and despair . . . but sometimes the spirit is stronger than the circumstances.”

Robert H. King

Austin, Texas