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Post by Big Lin on Jun 7, 2011 17:43:34 GMT
uk.news.yahoo.com/us-inmates-40-years-solitary-must-end-amnesty-000047090.htmlUS inmates' 40 years in solitary must end: Amnesty AFPBy Jaime Razuri | AFP – Tue, Jun 7, 2011 Two US prisoners who have been held in solitary confinement for nearly 40 years should have their isolation ended immediately, Amnesty International said Tuesday. Albert Woodfox, 64, and Herman Wallace, 69, have been held in solitary at Louisiana State Penitentiary ever since they were convicted of murdering a prison guard in 1972, the London-based human rights group said. Their four-decade ordeal "is cruel and inhumane and a violation of the US's obligations under international law," said Guadalupe Marengo, Amnesty's Americas deputy director. "We are not aware of any other case in the United States where individuals have been subjected to such restricted human contact for such a prolonged period of time." The pair are suing the Louisiana authorities claiming that their prolonged isolation is "cruel and unusual punishment" and so violates the US constitution. "The treatment of these men by the state of Louisiana is a clear breach of US commitment to human rights," said Marengo. "Their cases should be reviewed as a matter of urgency, and while that takes place authorities must ensure that their treatment complies with international standards for the humane treatment of prisoners." Amnesty said the men were confined to their cells, measuring two metres (6.5 feet) by three metres, for 23 hours a day, and have never been allowed to work or have access to education.
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Post by iamjumbo on Jun 12, 2011 17:54:07 GMT
amnesty international's forte is sticking its nose where it has no right to be. no surprise anyone who is so abjectly stupid that they think a murderer, especially of a prison guard, should be allowed to work or have access to education it too much of an imbecile to pay attention to
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Post by arizonavet on Jun 13, 2011 12:44:16 GMT
amnesty international's forte is sticking its nose where it has no right to be. no surprise anyone who is so abjectly stupid that they think a murderer, especially of a prison guard, should be allowed to work or have access to education it too much of an imbecile to pay attention to Jim...amigo... Isn't calling a poster "imbecile" or "stupid" a bit rough? I just plain loath Black Panther murderers in general....to tell the truth, I don't care WHAT they do to them...it would be too good for the America-hating, bigotted, black/Islamic supremicists SOB's. Linda has already stated that they should have been slotted... Don't you agree that 30 years is clearly a very virulent form of torture? Hell, throw them a book or too...it wouldn't kill us.
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Post by Ben Lomond on Jun 13, 2011 14:12:05 GMT
Keep them in prison for as long as the courts decide, but do not subject them to what is undoubtedly cruel and inhuman treatment. And solitary confinement for 40 years is certainly that. This cannot be right. But coming from the land of the free and the home of Guantanamo, I am not too surprised as such barbarity.
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Post by iamjumbo on Jun 14, 2011 13:40:48 GMT
amnesty international's forte is sticking its nose where it has no right to be. no surprise anyone who is so abjectly stupid that they think a murderer, especially of a prison guard, should be allowed to work or have access to education it too much of an imbecile to pay attention to Jim...amigo... Isn't calling a poster "imbecile" or "stupid" a bit rough? I just plain loath Black Panther murderers in general....to tell the truth, I don't care WHAT they do to them...it would be too good for the America-hating, bigotted, black/Islamic supremicists SOB's. Linda has already stated that they should have been slotted... Don't you agree that 30 years is clearly a very virulent form of torture? Hell, throw them a book or too...it wouldn't kill us. huh uh. i wasn't referring to any poster. i was talking about the imbeciles who conceived and support such an anti human rights outfit as amnesty international. these are the worthless nutjobs who think that murderers are worth as much as an innocent baby. i wasn't aware that this garbage was black panthers, but that simple fact, in and of itself, means that their treatment is a good thing. the same is true of ANY gangbanger since, without exception, the only good gangbanger is a dead one. this trash is being fed, housed, clothed, and given medical treatment. they are not being abused. whether it is one year or a hundred, there is no way that it can be construed as torture. nonetheless, as with everything in this world, it was THEIR choice, and theirs alone, to go to solitary for the rest of their lives. if things would have been done right, they'd have been dead years ago.
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Post by iamjumbo on Jun 14, 2011 13:43:43 GMT
Keep them in prison for as long as the courts decide, but do not subject them to what is undoubtedly cruel and inhuman treatment. And solitary confinement for 40 years is certainly that. This cannot be right. But coming from the land of the free and the home of Guantanamo, I am not too surprised as such barbarity. what is so difficult to comprehend about the irrefutable FACT that if this trash has chosen to act like human beings, they wouldn't be in solitary confinement, or even in prison. THEY chose to be there, no one else made the choice for them
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Post by Ben Lomond on Jun 14, 2011 14:39:08 GMT
There are many arguments against cruel and inhuman treatment of prisoners, and against torture in all its forms; both physical and mental. But I doubt if you are capable of understanding any of them, so we will simply beg to differ.
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Post by toby on Jun 14, 2011 18:00:18 GMT
Toby comments.:- The weed of crime bears bitter fruit ! Dont'do the crime then you don't do the time !
People have choices, that is what separates us from animals so if they chose to be Murderers then they cannot complain if others choose to keep them locked up for four decades.
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Post by iamjumbo on Jun 21, 2011 13:10:38 GMT
There are many arguments against cruel and inhuman treatment of prisoners, and against torture in all its forms; both physical and mental. But I doubt if you are capable of understanding any of them, so we will simply beg to differ. au contraire my boy. of course there are many reasons that cruel and inhuman treatment of prisoners is wrong. the problem is your refusal to comprehend what constitutes cruel and inhuman treatment. your thinking that this is cruel and inhuman treatment conclusively proves the point
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Post by iamjumbo on Jun 21, 2011 13:13:34 GMT
Toby comments.:- The weed of crime bears bitter fruit ! Dont'do the crime then you don't do the time ! People have choices, that is what separates us from animals so if they chose to be Murderers then they cannot complain if others choose to keep them locked up for four decades. exactly. EVERYTHING in life, without exception, is TOTALLY your choice. this garbage chose to be in prison, and chose to not act like humans after they were there. any and every thing that has happened to them is nothing more than what they stated that they wanted just simple reality
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Post by DAS (formerly BushAdmirer) on Jun 22, 2011 0:02:52 GMT
The problem here is insufficient use of the death penalty. These two should have been dead long ago. End of problem. No debate.
Failing that, I fully agree with Jumbo.
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Post by iamjumbo on Jun 22, 2011 19:00:13 GMT
The problem here is insufficient use of the death penalty. These two should have been dead long ago. End of problem. No debate. Failing that, I fully agree with Jumbo. of course, you are totally correct. had they been given the proper punishment to begin with, there would be no issue of them being in solitary.
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Post by Synonym on Jun 22, 2011 19:04:46 GMT
I hope that their solitary is different than that portrayed in the book and film Papillon. 40 years of that would indeed be unbelievable cruel and inhumane. Just because someone acts like an animal it doesn't mean that we have to as well.
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Post by iamjumbo on Jun 23, 2011 17:30:18 GMT
I hope that their solitary is different than that portrayed in the book and film Papillon. 40 years of that would indeed be unbelievable cruel and inhumane. Just because someone acts like an animal it doesn't mean that we have to as well. it just means no contact with anyone except the guard that brings their meals, and no tv, radio, or other such stuff they do have to be allowed out of the cell for an hour three times a week though. that would be one at a time also, so there would be no communication between them
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Post by Synonym on Jun 23, 2011 18:22:31 GMT
Then I would say that that is cruel and inhumane. 40 years of little to no stimulation. I'd be surprised if they haven't gone a little mad.
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Post by iamjumbo on Jun 24, 2011 13:49:16 GMT
Then I would say that that is cruel and inhumane. 40 years of little to no stimulation. I'd be surprised if they haven't gone a little mad. that's what they said they wanted. tough shyt. as we've said, in a perfect world, they would be dead.
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Post by Synonym on Jun 24, 2011 15:32:31 GMT
Sorry, who said they wanted, and what?
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Post by toby on Jun 24, 2011 16:57:11 GMT
Ben posted.:-There are many arguments against cruel and inhuman treatment of prisoners, and against torture in all its forms; both physical and mental.
Toby comments.:- There are many arguments for the cruel and inhuman treatment of Prisoners and for torture in all its forms, phsical and mental.
If you can't do the time, then don't do the crime, simple as that !
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Post by june on Jun 24, 2011 23:09:07 GMT
Ben posted.:-There are many arguments against cruel and inhuman treatment of prisoners, and against torture in all its forms; both physical and mental. Toby comments.:- There are many arguments for the cruel and inhuman treatment of Prisoners and for torture in all its forms, phsical and mental. If you can't do the time, then don't do the crime, simple as that ! That works because every one convicted is actually guilty, oh, hang on......
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Post by trubble on Jun 29, 2011 11:02:45 GMT
Ben posted.:-There are many arguments against cruel and inhuman treatment of prisoners, and against torture in all its forms; both physical and mental. Toby comments.:- There are many arguments for the cruel and inhuman treatment of Prisoners and for torture in all its forms, phsical and mental. If you can't do the time, then don't do the crime, simple as that ! That works because every one convicted is actually guilty, oh, hang on...... Good point. It seems the circumstances need to be understood, not just of the prison but of the trial. There's too much doubt to warrant 40 years of solitary confinement. Just some extracts from an interesting piece: Doubts Arise About 1972 Angola Prison Murder by Laura Sullivan
Deep in the Louisiana hills, a long winding road dead ends at Angola, a prison unlike any other. It's the size of Manhattan, 30 miles from the nearest town, a place unto itself. It was in this faraway place that a 23-year-old corrections officer was stabbed to death with a lawnmower blade in 1972. In the almost 40 years since, those are about the only details of the crime anyone can agree on. Two men — Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox — were quickly convicted of killing Brent Miller. A judge sentenced them to life; the prison put them in solitary confinement — for 36 years. It's the longest any inmate has spent in isolation in modern U.S. history. Now, all these years later, the murder seems even more unsettled and elusive than it did then, and there are questions about their guilt. *** Angola was known throughout the country as "the bloodiest prison in America." "I tell you, that was appalling," says Lloyd Hoyle, the deputy warden at the time. "I tell you, I wasn't even working there, and I almost shed tears because of the conditions of that prison you would not believe it." Hoyle was a prison warden from Iowa. He still remembers when Warden Murray Henderson asked him to come look around the penitentiary. "I looked at it," he remembers, "and I says, 'Murray, there's nothing you could do to this prison, nothing, that wouldn't be an improvement.'" Hoyle says there were 200 armed convict guards, who abused and tortured the inmates. Many of the paid guards were illiterate. There was a prisoner slave trade and rampant rape; inmates slept with JC Penny catalogs tied to their waists for protection. Wilbert Rideau was an inmate at the time and former editor of the prison newspaper, The Angolite. "Angola was a lawless jungle," Rideau says, flipping through an old issue of the paper. Inside is a tally. In 1971, there were 82 stabbings, three inmates died. In 1972, there were 52 stabbings, eight died. In 1973, you had 137 stabbings, 13 died. "It was getting progressively worse," Rideau says, shaking his head. To keep order, there were fewer than 300 correctional officers, men like Bert Dixon. "It was rough, inmates killing inmates, yes it was bad," Dixon says. "We didn't have the personnel they have now, to be able to watch the inmates. The inmates were on their own." With so little to lose, an inmate tried to escape almost every day, running fast and furiously from the cotton fields. Dixon and his father ran the bloodhounds through the woods, chasing all of them down. "Back in those days when an inmate escaped, we didn't come back until we caught him," he says. "I've gone to sleepwalking at night, I be so tired." Within the prison, a war was brewing between the inmates and the guards for control. Years of racial and political turmoil were boiling over. Many inmates were turning to radical political movements, and in some cases, violence. Just one day before Miller was killed, a group of inmates attacked a guard shack with a fire bomb, injuring an officer. *** Months after the crime, the state found four other witnesses, inmates who said they saw one, two or all four men running from the Pine 1 dormitory — though oddly none of the witnesses saw each other. One of the four was legally blind. One was heavily medicated at the time. And the other two have recanted. One of those, Howard Baker, said he made the story up because prison officials told him they'd help him get out of Angola. He originally testified that he watched Wallace run from the crime scene, enter the license tag plant and burn his bloody clothes in the incinerator. Thirty years later, when he changed his story, Baker said he could never believe in all those years no one ever picked up on the one huge problem with his statement: There is no incinerator in the license tag plant. ***
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