Ending solitary confinement

Guests: Albert Woodfox, Amy Fettig

ALBERT WOODFOX spent more than four decades in solitary confinement at Angola Prison in Louisiana. He was serving a sentence for armed robbery when, in 1972, a white guard was killed. Despite a lack of evidence, Woodfox and two other men, all Black Panthers at the time, were accused of the crime and sentenced to life in solitary. They became known as the “Angola 3” and always denied their involvement in the murder. For 23 hours every day, Woodfox sat in a 6-by-9 foot cell, only allowed out for an hour to shower or exercise by himself. In 2016, he was finally released and has now written a memoir, Solitary. We’ll talk with Woodfox about his life, how he endured the isolation, and his work to end solitary confinement in prisons. We’re also joined by the ACLU’s AMY FETTIG, deputy director of their National Prison Project, about the use of solitary confinement in US prisons and the mental and physical effects on inmates.