Going to `the hole`, or the SCU (Solitary Confinement Unit) also called sometimes `the punk city` is one of the worst nightmares of a incarcerated person. It basically means that if you have the ill luck of getting into the SCU, you will be isolated from any form of human contact, outside the necessary relations with the prison staff. So you can imagine how dreadful it must be to stay for a day or to at the punk city, let alone 43 years. It is not only the absence of needed light or the poor food you receive, but is one of the most effective kinds of psychological torture. Come on, you`ve seen the movies. Now, the most recent info in connection to the case of an SCU convict talks about an inmate freed after 43 years of solitary confinement. It would be fascinating to observe in which way he gets back to the other members of the Homo Sapiens species.
The case of Albert Woodfox, an inmate who has lived the last 43 years of his life in the solitary confinement unit has attracted the interest of the international community. Over the past years, numerous demonstrations have been held in order to pledge for the release of Albert Woodfox, with protesters claiming that almost half a century on your own, within the same four walls, will not only drive you crazy, but it will suck out your soul.
James Brady, a Louisiana judge, has approved the release of Albert Woodfox after he banned the prosecutors appeals for the third time. Woodfox is now 68 and he has been kept at the SCU since April 18, 1972.
Albert Woodfox is part of the Angola 3 group, a group including 3 men for whom an organization bearing the same name has fought through protests and demonstrations, aiming at achieving the release of the Angola 3.
In 1972, Albert Woodfox was involved in a prison riot which led to the death of a prison guard. He was convicted to spend his sentence at the solitary confinement unit, even though he denies all charges against him until this day.
The other two men in the Angola 3 group, Robert King and Herman Wallace have been released in the past years, after also spending their time in the SCU of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, in 2001 and 2013 respectively. The penitentiary is near a former slave plantation called Angola, which gave the name of the group and the organization pledging for their cause.
Image Source: BBC
Melissa Gansler
