Person    | Male  Born 13/10/1941  Died 4/10/2013

Herman Wallace

Categories: Law, Race Issues, Tragedy

Countries: USA

In 1972 a prison guard was murdered in Angola Prison, Louisiana, USA, where Herman Wallace, Robert King, and Albert Woodfox were prisoners.  Wallace and Woodfox were convicted of the murder; King was said to be connected to the murder but was not charged.  King was convicted of a separate prison murder in 1973. All three were placed in solitary confinement and were forgotten until 1997 when a law student began investigating their case.  King was released after 29 years in solitary confinement.  Apart from a brief spell in 2008 in a maximum security dormitory, Wallace and Woodfox have been in solitary confinement since 1972.  The story is more complicated than this brief summary and it continues. The three men are known as "The Angola 3” and "Who is Herman Wallace" is/was the publicity campaign.

Herman Wallace was born in New Orleans but has spent most of his life in (a very small bit of) Angola Prison.

King was released in 2001.

Update 2013: Wallace had been diagnosed with cancer and was in a prison hospital.  On 1 October 2013 his conviction was overturned and he was released.  He died 3 days later.

Update 2016: A federal court ordered the immediate release of Woodfox but the legal wranglings continued until he was finally released in 2016.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Herman Wallace

Commemorated ati

Herman Wallace

This tile is about 4" square. It has been guerrilla-stuck to the wall just a...

Read More

Mosaic House, back - Angola Three

Angola Three: Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox, King Wilkerson

Read More

Mosaic House, front - Herman Wallace

Herman Wallace, 1941 - 2013

Read More

Other Subjects

Cannon Hall

Cannon Hall

A Queen Anne mansion. The name probably refers to the whole estate at the time, not just the house. About 1730, when the house was used as a court, a lock-up was built into the garden wall. Gerald ...

Building, Law

1 memorial
Whitecross Debtors' Prison

Whitecross Debtors' Prison

This was on the southern most section of Whitecross Street, immediately north of St Giles Cripplegate, considerably further south than the plaque location.  Designed by William Montague and built i...

Building, Law

1 memorial
Niblett Hall

Niblett Hall

Funded by William Niblett, Niblett Hall was built in 1932, survived WW2, but were later destroyed by fire and demolished in 1992. Replaced by the Littleton Building.

Building, Law

1 memorial
F. Brader

F. Brader

Alderman in the Borough of Hammersmith in 1948. Our colleague Andrew Behan has researched this man: Frederick Brader was born about 1880 and in late 1914 he married Lilian Soper in Fulham, their s...

Person, Law, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Dame Elizabeth Lane DBE

Dame Elizabeth Lane DBE

Barrister and judge. From First 100 years: "She was the first woman appointed as a judge in the County Court, and the first female High Court judge in England. She is most extraordinary since she h...

Person, Law

1 memorial