Solitary

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Solitary is the unforgettable life story of a man who servedthan four decades in solitary confinement in a 6 foot by 9 foot cell, 23 hours a day, in notorious Angola prison in Louisiana all for a crime he did not commit That Albert Woodfox survived was, in itself, a feat of extraordinary endurance against the violence and deprivation he faced daily That he was able to emerge whole from his odyssey within America s prison and judicial systems is a triumph of the human spirit, and makes his book a clarion call to reform the inhumanity of solitary confinement in the U.S and around the world Arrested often as a teenager in New Orleans, inspired behind bars in his early twenties to join the Black Panther Party because of its social commitment and code of living, Albert was serving a 50 year sentence in Angola for armed robbery when on April 17, 1972, a white guard was killed Albert and another member of the Panthers were accused of the crime and immediately put in solitary confinement by the warden Without a shred of actual evidence against them, their trial was a sham of justice that gave them life sentences in solitary Decades passed before Albert gained a lawyer of consequence even so, sixteenyears and multiple appeals were needed before he was finally released in February 2016.Remarkably self aware that anger or bitterness would have destroyed him in solitary confinement, sustained by the shared solidarity of two fellow Panthers, Albert turned his anger into activism and resistance The Angola 3, as they became known, resolved never to be broken by the grinding inhumanity and corruption that effectively held them for decades as political prisoners He survived to give us Solitary, a chronicle of rare power and humanity that proves the better spirits of our nature can thrive against any odds. Best Read [ Solitary ] Author [ Albert Woodfox ] For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr Solitary by Albert Woodfox is a gruelling but rewarding work of non fiction In and out of jail as a young black man in the late 60s, Woodfox had a troubled start to manhood A start he isn t proud of His fractured family was poor and life in urban Louisiana was hard Racism was endemic and unquestioned.When he finally ended up in the notorious Angola prison in 1969, on a very questionable charge of armed robbery, he was in for the long haul He received a 50 year sentence.Albert Woodfox an ang Solitary by Albert Woodfox is a gruelling but rewarding work of non fiction In and out of jail as a young black man in the late 60s, Woodfox had a troubled start to manhood A start he isn t proud of His fractured family was poor and life in urban Louisiana was hard Racism was endemic and unquestioned.When he finally ended up in the notorious Angola prison in 1969, on a very questionable charge of armed robbery, he was in for the long haul He received a 50 year sentence.Albert Woodfox an angry but thoughtful man, had to deal with the nightmare reality of prison life A world of ...I became living proof that we can survive the worst to change ourselves and our world, no matter where we are Behind our resistance on the tiers, Herman, King, and I knew that only education would save usForthan 40 years, Albert Woodfox was kept in solitary confinement in a 9 X 6 foot cell 23 hours a day 40 YEARS I don t think I could handle that for a week, let alone decades And yet he endured this torture, day after day, year after year, for a crime he didn t commit.This book iI became living proof that we can survive the worst to change ourselves and our world, no matter where we are Behind our resistance on the tiers, Herman, King, and I knew that only education would save usForthan 40 years, Albert Woodfox was kept in solitary confinement in a 9 X 6 foot cell 23 hours a day 40 YEARS I don t think I could handle that for a week, let alone decades And yet he endured this torture, day after day, year after year, for a crime he didn t commit.This book is Mr Woodfox s story With brutal honesty, Albert Woodfox shares his unimaginable life He grew up in Louisiana during the Jim Crow era, raised by a mother who was sometimes forced into prostitution in order to feed her young children His childhood was not easy and by his teenage years, he had dropped out of school and started a gang Mr Woodfox shares with us how he would often steal in order to provide for himself and his family, ending up in and out of prison at a young age He decided to change...Some books are written by authors who yearn for the title, the mantle and all the goodies that go with the title of Author Some tomes are acts of persuasion, beckoning conversion from one point of view to another Some volumes are slick and polished marketing or branding materials for products or lifestyles or team building manuals And then there are some books that simply spill out spill out from the lives of humans who are desperate to tell their tale This is one of those.It s uncomfortabl Some books are written by authors who yearn for the title, the mantle and all the goodies that go with the title of Author Some tomes are acts of persuasion, beckoning conversion from one point of view to another Some volumes are slick and polished marketing or branding materials for products or lifestyles or team building manuals And then there are some books that simply spill out spill out from the lives of humans who are desperate to tell their tale This is one of those.It s uncomfortable at least it was to me This is not a topic I think much about on purpose Parts of his story are like all of our collective beginnings but then it takes these terrible swerves into consequential mazes It goes on and on and on.but the mere mass of the many repeated choices that led to the same place made me tired, and I ll admit I skimmed over some of that i...Yikes what an indictment of the US legal and prison system This is a book on many of the things wrong with the Land of the Brave It is not much of an endorsement Woodfox s experiences in the aptly named prison Angola, Louisiana It read like a war zone, ruled by despots with all the accompanying violence, rape, racism, corruptness and hopelessness But Woodfox finds hope and strength in his adoption of Black Panther ideals of unity, helping others, strength in the face adversity He spends al Yikes what an indictment of the US legal and prison system This is a book on many of the things wrong with the Land of the Brave It is not much of an endorsement Woodfox s experiences in the aptly named prison Angola, Louisiana It read like a war zone, ruled by despots with all the accompanying violence, rape, racism, corruptness and hopelessness But Woodfox finds hope and strength in his adoption of Black Panther ideals of unity, helping others, strength in the face adversity He s...In beautifully poetic language that starkly contrasts the world he s describing, Woodfox awes and inspires He illustrates the power of the human spirit, while illuminating the dire need for prison reform in the United States Solitary is a brilliant blend of passion, terror and hope that everyone needs to experience Shelf Awareness starred reviewA profound book about friendship told simply but not tersely If the ending of this book does not leave you with tears pooling down in your clIn beautifully poetic language that starkly contrasts the world he s describing, Woodfox awes and inspires He illustrates the power of the human spirit, while illuminating the dire need for prison reform in the United States Solitary is a brilliant blend of passion, terror and hope that everyone needs to experience Shelf Awareness starred reviewA profou...Our prison system is cruel and inhumane This book is one of the best prison memoirs I ve ever read exempting Mandela and Assata Woodfox s book is not just about his experiences, but it is about the syste...Our resistance gave us an identity Our identity gave us strength Our strength gave us an unbreakable will Albert Woodfox Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe Frederick Douglass If any white man in the world says Give me liberty, or give me death, the entire world applauds When a black man Our resistance gave us an identity Our identity gave us strength Our strength gave us an unbreakable will Albert Woodfox Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe Frederick Douglass If any white man in the world says Give me liberty, or give me death, the entire world applauds When a black man says exactly the same thing, word for word, he is judged a criminal and treated like one James BaldwinHe starts by telling of his youth and his mother and her wisdom and fortitude.A telling of survival in poverty under Jim Crow laws, being called names, despicable kind, the racist kind.Be prepared for the days of the unstoppable force that is Albert Woodfox presented before you in this narrative, if you did not know him then you surely will now with awe and respect, man of code, principle and no s t toler...Please just read it Woodfox isn t the first person to suffer at the hands of America s broken criminal justice system and, as long as the prison industrial complex and systemic racism continue to chug along and get away with it, he most certainly w...Some books we read to bear witness to acknowledge the pain and suffering our country causes her own citizens to bear Albert Woodcox was sent to prison, once there his life became a living hell Accused of a crime there that he did not commit, he was held in solitary confinement for decades Decades This book explains his experience and the struggle for his release Prison reform is but the tip of the iceberg in the change needed to rectify what happened to him This book is important to read Some books we read to bear witness to acknowledge the pain and suffering our country causes her own citizens to bear Albert Woodcox was sent to prison, once there his life became a living hell Accused of a crime there that he did not commit, he was held in solitary confinement for decades Decades This book explains his experience and the struggle for his release ...This is an incredible book Albert Woodfox grew up in a poor section of New Orleans In the 50s and 60s, he was a petty criminal Arrested as a teenager, he spent time in four different prisons before being exposed to the Black Panthers, who taught him that you don t fight fire with fire, you fight fire with water He learned how to not give in to fear Along with two other Angola inmates Herman and King he focused on passive resistance and using education to save themselves Because of thei This is an incredible book Albert Woodfox grew up in a poor section of New Orleans In the 50s and 60s, he was a petty criminal Arrested as a teenager, he spent time in four different prisons before being exposed to the Black Panthers, who taught him that you don t fight fire with fire, you fight fire with water He learned how to not give in to fear Along with two other Angola inmates Herman and King he focused on passive resistance and using education to save themselves Because of their efforts as mentors, leaders and teachers, they were able to make changes in the treatment of prisoners, however, they were continually placed in solitary, with unimaginable torture, including being locked in tiny, rat and bug infested cells for 23 hours a day They were railroaded for the murder of a prison guard, leading ...When Albert Woodfox was incarcerated and sentenced to quite a stretch in jail, he didn t know what to think, really he was a teenager who d got muddled up in basic criminal teenage stuff.One of Woodfox s great strengths is his ability to express himself straightforwardly, without mucking up a line As here The first time I was called a nigger by a white person I was around 12 I was waiting with dozens of other kids at the end of the Mardi Gras parade behind the Municipal Auditorium where the p When Albert Woodfox was incarcerated and sentenced to quite a stretch in jail, he didn t know what to think, really he was a teenager who d got muddled up in basic criminal teenage stuff.One of Woodfox s great strengths is his ability to express himself straightforwardly, without mucking up a line As here The first time I was called a nigger by a white person I was around 12 I was waiting with dozens of other kids at the end of the Mardi Gras parade behind the Municipal Auditorium where the people on the floats, who were all white in those days, gave away whatever beads and trinkets they had left On one of the floats the man tossing the trinkets was holding a real beautiful strand of pearl colored beads I thought they d make a nice gift for my mom on her birthday I called out to him, Hey mister, hey mister, and reached out my hand.H...This book made me uncomfortable Uncomfortable in the sense that people are still being treated differently because of the color of their skin It seems so simple we are all the same Yet hate always seems to win This book was disheartenin...This is the story of the Angola 3, who spent decades in solitary confinement in a slave plantation turned prison in Louisiana Beneath the word SOLITARY, I see the word SOLIDARITY Solidarity between the three men who were moved by the black panther party in the late sixties to change their lives and the lives of those around them Solidarity in the struggle for survival and human rights against all odds, solidarity between these prisoners and their supporters on the outside who number in the hu This is the story of the Angola 3, who spent decades in solitary confinement in a slave plantation turned prison in Louisiana Beneath the word SOLITARY, I see the word SOLIDARITY Solidarity between the three men who were moved by the black panther party in the late sixties to change their lives and the lives of those around them Solidarity in the struggle for survival and human rights against all odds, solidarit...A very hard to read book It starts out with his life in crime as a petty thief, then druggie, then armed robbery Then went on to describe the injustices of the criminal justice and prison system And the horrors of Angola, t...

Solitary
  • 02 August 2017
  • Hardcover
  • 320 pages
  • 0802129080
  • Albert Woodfox
  • Solitary