Albert Woodfox, who has spent more that 40 years in solitary confinement in Louisiana prisons, was cautiously hopeful when a federal judge ordered his release earlier this week, his attorney said, according to the Times-Picayune.
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But his hopes were dashed Friday when the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued an order continuing to block his release, the report says. Woodfox, 68, who is under a third indictment for the 1972 murder of a prison guard, will remain behind bars while the court weighs an appeal filed by Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, according to the news outlet.
Earlier this week, the court issued a temporary, emergency stay blocking Woodfox’s release after U.S. District Judge James Brady ruled Monday that not only should Woodfox be freed, but he should also not be tried a third time for the 43-year-old prison murder.
Woodfox has been held in continuous solitary confinement, the report says, because of two convictions for the murder of Brent Miller, a 23-year-old slain guard in 1972. He and another inmate, the late Herman Wallace, were both accused in the murder at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, notes the report. Courts overturned both of Woodfox’s convictions, but a West Feliciana Parish grand jury in February indicted him for a third time in the case.
Read more at the Times-Picayune.
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