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.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

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

Sir Edwin Chadwick

Sir Edwin Chadwick

Born Lancashire but brought up in London. A friend of Jeremy Bentham, Bentham dying in his arms. Chadwick's major achievement was the 1842 publication of the Poor Law Commissioners' "Report on the ...

Person, Law, Politics & Administration, Social Welfare

1 memorial
John Compton Lawrance, QC, MP

John Compton Lawrance, QC, MP

High Court Judge. Came from Lincolnshire. From Plymounth Law Review we learn: "John Lawrance was Conservative MP for South Lincolnshire for ten years, from 1880 to 1890, until his appointment as ...

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
T. V. and Anthony Edwards

T. V. and Anthony Edwards

Anthony is a senior partner of the law firm T. V. Edwards which was established by his uncle, T. V., in 1929.  Their offices at 33 Mile End Road had a large blank wall.  Anthony commissioned the mu...

Group, Benefactor, Law

1 memorial
United States constitution

United States constitution

This was partly based on Magna Carta.

Concept, Law, Politics & Administration, USA

1 memorial