Hunger Strike Update: Angola Prison, Louisiana Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source - Eli Rosenblatt UPDATE ON THE HUNGER STRIKE AT THE LOUISIANA STATE PENITENTIARY AT ANGOLA (May 28) -- The hunger strike at the Louisiana State Penitentiary ended Wednesday, May 19. Following is an update of what we know has happened. 1. First, a brief recap of events. The hunger strike began on Monday, May 3, with over 60 men refusing their meals to protest deteriorating conditions in CCR (Closed Cell Restricted) the "non-punitive" solitary confinement unit. (Prison officials deny that the hunger strike ever happened). After two days, the administration appeared willing to negotiate with the CCR men (the hunger strikers' only demand), and the strike was called off. Later the same day, five inmates (Albert Woodfox, Herman Wallace, Robert King Wilkerson, Barbette Williams, and David Carr) were placed in segregation and charged with the disciplinary infraction of "inciting a hunger strike." Wallace, Wilkerson, Williams, and Carr were convicted by the prison's kangaroo courts the next day and sent to Camp J, the punishment unit. For reasons that are unclear, Woodfox was not immediately tried, and he remained in a segregated unit of CCR, in an area known to inmates as "the dungeon." Upon being segregated, the five alleged "leaders" of the hunger strike again began refusing their meals. Woodfox, while alone in CCR, began eating again on Saturday, May 8. The men in Camp J (Wallace, Wilkerson, and Williams, and Carr) remained on their hunger strike. 2. Hunger striker Barbette Williams was hospitalized on Sunday, May 16. Initially, prison personnel told inmates that Barbette had suffered a heart attack after starving himself for 14 days. It now appears that he did not suffer a heart attack, but he was vomiting blood, and his condition was severe enough that Angola officials moved him from his cell in Camp J to a hospital at the LSU Medical Center in Baton Rouge, about two hours away. Williams was returned to Camp J earlier this week. 3. Albert Woodfox has now been found guilty of the disciplinary infraction of "inciting a hunger strike." His hearing began on Friday, May 14. For unclear reasons, the hearing was not completed that day, but was continued until a later date. It appears that his hearing was completed last Friday, May 21. He expects to be moved to Camp J any day now, apparently for at least 6 months. Wallace, Woodfox, and Wilkerson, who have continually struggled together during their 27 years in solitary confinement, now have no contact with one another, as they are all in different areas of the prison. 4. The fifth inmate who was found guilty of "inciting a hunger strike," David Carr, is back in CCR, apparently the only alleged hunger strike leader who is not being punished. Of the five inmates convicted of being the "leaders" of the hunger strike, Carr is the only white inmate. He is also rumored to have family members who work at Angola. Considering Angola's long and ugly history of vicious racism and nepotism, the implications of this are obvious. At this point, that is what we know. Woodfox, Wallace, Wilkerson, and Williams face at least six months in the punishment unit, but the prison's kangaroo courts and classification committees have been known to keep men in Camp J for a decade or more. You can write to the Angola 3 (we don't have an address for Barbette Williams) at the following addresses: Herman Wallace #76759 Camp J Gator 4/R/2 Louisiana State Penitentiary Angola, LA 70712 Robert King Wilkerson #80966 Camp J Cuda 2/L/8 Louisiana State Penitentiary Angola, LA 70712 Albert Woodfox CCR U/F (no Camp J address yet, but it should get to him) Louisiana State Penitentiary Angola, LA 70712 You may reach state officials at: Warden Burl Cain Louisiana State Penitentiary Angola, LA 70712 phone: (225) 655-4411 fax:(225) 655-2319 Gov. Mike Foster P.O. Box 94044 Baton Rouge, LA 70804 phone: (225) 342-7015 fax: (225) 342-7099 This message comes to you from the Angola 3 Support Committee. P.O. Box 15644 New Orleans, LA 70175 (504) 227-5946 (Louisiana voicemail) or (510) 595-8264 (California) For more info, visit the Angola 3 website at: http://www.prisonactivist.org/angolatwo ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytrc-06.13.99-03:21:26-26673