Scan barcode
A review by bobbieshiann
Solitary by Albert Woodfox
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
5.0
“I turned my attention to the street. There, I quickly learned everyone had one choice: to be a rabbit or a wolf. I chose to be a wolf”.
It’s not always common for me to finish a book and cry. To reread a book and sit with how relevant it is because injustice has not dwindled. In Solitary, by Albert Woodfox, we learn of one man’s journey to prison but there, his fight was never singular as a brotherhood was developed that could never be broken.
From a young age, Albert was surrounded by poverty and slowly started understanding how his skin tone was a crime. Young and restless, he would not abide by his mother’s rules and began dabbling in crime at a young age to survive the streets of New Orleans’s Treme neighborhood. Albert became no stranger to the system even though he escaped on numerous occasions. By the age of 24, he had been in and out of prison and had a yearlong addiction to heroin until he kicked the habit with the help of a girlfriend.
In the need to survive, his mother could not read or write which resulted in prostitution to make sure her children had a roof of their head and food in their bellies. With his need to survive, Albert discloses how he stole from people who almost had nothing. His own people. Things finally got out of hand in 1969 when Albert was sentenced to 50 years in prison for armed robbery mixed with added false chargers so police can clean their books.
In Angola prison, the largest maximum-security prison that was a plantation, Woodfox is introduced and joins the Black Panther Party. Fighting injustices in the prison system, Woodfox became a target. He was charged with killing a guard by the name of Brent Miller. With a lack of evidence and numerous tellings of the incident that did and did not put Woodfox and other inmates at the scene of the crime, there would be a long fight not only to prove their innocence but to succumb to four decades in solitary confinement faced with harsh and brutal treatment daily. Hot cells, numerous strip searches, brutally attacked, deteriorating health, and being behind bars while you start to lose friends and family members that believe in your innocence.
The false charge of murder introduced us to true friendship as the “Angola 3” (Herman, Albert, and King) stood firm in their beliefs and their duty to protect other inmates as they stood up to the prison rape culture, helped educate inmates through reading and writing, and joined in hungry strikes to get fair and appropriate treatment. Herman died three days after his release from prison in 2013, Woodfox finally tasted freedom in 2016 but passed away in 2022, and the last remaining member of the three, King, never stopped his fight to speak on the harsh conditions of the prison and justice system.
This is not an easy story to read as much of it still stands in the injustices and the harsh treatment of Black men in America. Albert Woodfox introduces us to true friendship as he shows the strength and comradery he had with Herman Wallace and Robert King. He shows us what endless love and strength look like and how the fight must go on even when the odds are stacked against you. He shares so much of the legal process as he starts to learn the law and has an army behind him that would not give up in the fight to prove his freedom. This is a book everyone should read as I have only touched on minimal as there is so much more detail and understanding to be had
It’s not always common for me to finish a book and cry. To reread a book and sit with how relevant it is because injustice has not dwindled. In Solitary, by Albert Woodfox, we learn of one man’s journey to prison but there, his fight was never singular as a brotherhood was developed that could never be broken.
From a young age, Albert was surrounded by poverty and slowly started understanding how his skin tone was a crime. Young and restless, he would not abide by his mother’s rules and began dabbling in crime at a young age to survive the streets of New Orleans’s Treme neighborhood. Albert became no stranger to the system even though he escaped on numerous occasions. By the age of 24, he had been in and out of prison and had a yearlong addiction to heroin until he kicked the habit with the help of a girlfriend.
In the need to survive, his mother could not read or write which resulted in prostitution to make sure her children had a roof of their head and food in their bellies. With his need to survive, Albert discloses how he stole from people who almost had nothing. His own people. Things finally got out of hand in 1969 when Albert was sentenced to 50 years in prison for armed robbery mixed with added false chargers so police can clean their books.
In Angola prison, the largest maximum-security prison that was a plantation, Woodfox is introduced and joins the Black Panther Party. Fighting injustices in the prison system, Woodfox became a target. He was charged with killing a guard by the name of Brent Miller. With a lack of evidence and numerous tellings of the incident that did and did not put Woodfox and other inmates at the scene of the crime, there would be a long fight not only to prove their innocence but to succumb to four decades in solitary confinement faced with harsh and brutal treatment daily. Hot cells, numerous strip searches, brutally attacked, deteriorating health, and being behind bars while you start to lose friends and family members that believe in your innocence.
The false charge of murder introduced us to true friendship as the “Angola 3” (Herman, Albert, and King) stood firm in their beliefs and their duty to protect other inmates as they stood up to the prison rape culture, helped educate inmates through reading and writing, and joined in hungry strikes to get fair and appropriate treatment. Herman died three days after his release from prison in 2013, Woodfox finally tasted freedom in 2016 but passed away in 2022, and the last remaining member of the three, King, never stopped his fight to speak on the harsh conditions of the prison and justice system.
This is not an easy story to read as much of it still stands in the injustices and the harsh treatment of Black men in America. Albert Woodfox introduces us to true friendship as he shows the strength and comradery he had with Herman Wallace and Robert King. He shows us what endless love and strength look like and how the fight must go on even when the odds are stacked against you. He shares so much of the legal process as he starts to learn the law and has an army behind him that would not give up in the fight to prove his freedom. This is a book everyone should read as I have only touched on minimal as there is so much more detail and understanding to be had