As told so eloquently in his 2019 autobiography, Solitary, when a white correctional officer was murdered in 1972, Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace were immediately targeted as suspects despite a lack of evidence, because they were Black Panthers. Together with Robert King, a fellow Black Panther convicted of a separate murder in prison in 1973, the men became known as the Angola Three.
At the age of 69, after having his conviction overturned three times, and enduring a trial and retrial, Albert entered an Alford plea in exchange for his immediate release. On Feb. 19, 2016, he was finally freed after 44 years and 10 months of wrongful incarceration — almost all of which he spent in solitary confinement. It’s widely reported that he served the longest time in solitary confinement of any person in the U.S. Yet Albert emerged from prison an activist whose spirit remained unbroken.
Images courtesy of Albert Woodfox, and William Widmer for the Innocence Project.
Even though he was physically confined in prison, Albert said he liberated himself intellectually and spiritually — which is why he considers today, the fifth anniversary of his release, the anniversary of his “physical freedom”. It also happens to be his 74th birthday.
“This journey has really, really tried me as a human being, and I'm happy to say that I’m very, very proud,” Albert said in the interview. “When I was coming up, my mom used to tell me, ‘Boy when you look in the mirror, if you're not proud of what's looking back at you, then you not a man.’ I didn't understand that at that time. But, I always tell people, I grew into my mom's wisdom … And I think, so far, when I look in the mirror, I'm proud of what I look back at.”
The Innocence Project exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. www.innocenceproject.org
