Jindal Asked To Remove Former Black Panther Prisoners From Isolation

BATON ROUGE, La. — An international human rights organization is calling on Gov. Bobby Jindal to end four decades of solitary confinement for two former Black Panthers convicted of murdering a Louisiana prison guard.Sixty-five-year-old Albert Woodfox and 70-year-old Herman Wallace were serving unrelated sentences for armed robbery in 1972 when they were convicted of fatally stabbing a guard and moved to isolation in the Louisiana State Penitentiary. They have since been moved to “closed cell restriction” in other state jails.Amnesty International delivered a petition to Jindal’s office Tuesday, containing 65,000 signatures from people who call the confinement inhumane. Jindal didn’t seem poised to intervene. His spokesman referred questions to the Corrections Department. Corrections Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc says the men are held separately to protect prison employees, other inmates and visitors.

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