SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.- Albert Woodfox, one of the "Angola Three," gained his unfortunate fame for serving over 40 years in solitary confinement -- the longest in U.S. prison history. After decades of activism and confinement - Woodfox's conviction was overturned for the third and final time. Woodfox will share his story of injustice, resilience, and hope at the 46th Annual California Attorneys for Criminal Justice Seminar on December 7th in San Francisco. His new book, Solitary, is a 2019 National Book Award finalist and a powerful call to reform the inhumanity of solitary confinement.
Woodfox has been featured in national press including the New York Times and NPR; at colleges including Harvard and Yale; and internationally at speaking events in London, Paris, Denmark, Sweden, and Belgium.
During his incarceration, Woodfox advocated improving conditions at the notoriously cruel and violent Angola prison. He led petitions and hunger strikes to provide education to prisoners, protest segregation, and speak out against violence.
Woodfox will be interviewed live by world-renown criminal justice reformer, Columbia Law professor and Executive Director of the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, Rick Jones, in front of an audience of California criminal defense attorneys. The special live interview is presented as a sponsorship Scorpion Designs and Hart Bail Bonds. The annual seminar will also feature programs on implicit bias in the criminal justice system, elimination of the "Trial Penalty," criminal justice reform in California and the future of the death penalty.
