A photo of Herman Wallace (R) and Albert Woodfox (L) in the early 1970s
Amnesty International has urged Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal to remove two former Black Panthers from 40 years of solitary confinement in a state penitentiary.
On Tuesday, the London-based human rights organization delivered a petition to Governor Jindal asking him to remove 65-year-old Albert Woodfox and 70-year-old Herman Wallace from isolation on humanitarian grounds.
The petition, signed by 65,000 activists from around the world, described the solitary confinement of the two men as inhumane.
"The 40-year isolated incarceration of these two men is scandalous,” said Everette Harvey Thompson, the Southern Office Regional Director of Amnesty International USA.
“It pushes the boundaries of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, and flies in the face of international standards to which the US is a party,” Thompson added.
On April 17, 1972, Wallace and Woodfox were placed in an isolation unit in the Louisiana State Penitentiary -- known as Angola Prison. They were charged, and later convicted of, the murder of a prison guard -- something they have consistently denied.
Tuesday marks the 40th anniversary of the two men's transfer to solitary confinement. Except for brief periods, Wallace and Woodfox have been in solitary confinement for 40 years.
