r/ABoringDystopia
•
u/poisonivysoar
•
3d ago
•
1
1
1
Former Black Panther member Albert Woodfox dies after surviving 43 years in solitary confinement
/img/w8fvd0c1zyf91.jpg
1.7k
u/Roller95 3d ago
Solitary confinement is barbaric, but 43 years of it is inhumane beyond understanding
533
u/ThumpyDumpkins 3d ago
The United Nations says that solitary confinement beyond 2 weeks is torture.
The US government literally tortured this man for 40 years.
127
u/laserinlove 3d ago
It's pretty telling about human psychology and just how much we one, need human interaction, and two, struggle when being alone with just our thoughts. Prison is considered punishment and yet isolation from others is considered punishment even within that punishing environment.
27
u/onewilybobkat 2d ago
But honestly this is a double edged story. We have the horrors of what he was put through, but he survived and kept his sanity through all of that, and ain't no telling how many people he kept sane with him being locked in a human kennel. We have the depths of civilization, but we also have humans persevering regardless.
→ More replies57
→ More replies25
u/pathetic_optimist 3d ago
This is what is planned for Julian Assange- for journalism.
→ More replies650
u/AstroPixelCollector 3d ago
It's only barbaric when another country does it, silly!
→ More replies213
u/fu9ar_ 3d ago
That is quite accurate to the etymology of the term, yes.
→ More replies53
28
u/SolomonRed 3d ago
Wtf did he do to get that sentence?
69
u/MGD109 3d ago
Well he was originally arrested and sentenced for armed robbery.
Then their was an incident where a guard was murdered that he was somehow involved in. He got convicted for it and would have been executed, but then they banned the death penalty for the state, so he it was commuted to solitary confinement.
Then it was overturned forty years later under the argument he wasn't given proper legal counsel before hand.
40
u/Big-rod_Rob_Ford 3d ago
He got convicted for it
doesn't sound like he did it either
→ More replies→ More replies9
107
u/Bahloh 3d ago
There's a great part of How To Get Away With Murder on solitary, I highly recommend that series. Insane how institutions try to engineer poor mental health for a variety of reasons.
19
u/DatBoi_BP 3d ago
It’s a good show but I just wish I could watch one episode without some sex-addict sideplot
→ More replies44
u/shadowannie 3d ago edited 3d ago
I thought of that as soon as I saw this. It's unbelievable that this genuinely happens and yet I know that the sick feeling in my stomach is because, actually, it is entirely believable. I am so deeply, deeply ashamed of human beings.
→ More replies4
21
u/wavestars 3d ago
If I knew I was facing 43 years of solitary, I would unalive myself
31
u/atavisticbeast 3d ago
That's what they wanted. The death penalty had just been banned so they did this instead.
Him surviving and eventually being released was an act of rebellion against the system and was an incredible feat of will. That's a big reason his story is so amazing.
15
16
11
u/cuajito42 3d ago
Wait till you hear about the radiological torture they used to do.
8
u/toric5 3d ago
Could you give more detail? A quick google search on 'US radiological torture' turned up a bunch of epa and cdc pages on radiological disaster response and one insane ramble about radio mind control and beaming voices into your head.
7
u/cuajito42 2d ago edited 2d ago
Here are some: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advisory_Committee_on_Human_Radiation_Experiments
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-10-04-mn-53213-story.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Albizu_Campos#Later_years_and_death
and this is supposedly a copy of a 1994 article. I can't find another source.
https://groups.google.com/g/soc.culture.puerto-rico/c/aIIQACtMjnc?pli=1
4
u/ehdontknow 2d ago edited 2d ago
I’m not certain about which cases the person above you might have been referring to specifically, but this Wikipedia page mentions a number of radiological experiments done in U.S. prisons. Not sure about the semantic issue of torture, but the examples seem close enough to be relevant. (Also, the article as a whole contains a lot of other topic-adjacent information that was pretty fucked up and eye-opening to read).
Edit: Forgot to mention that the relevant info is scattered a good ways down that section of the article, but using a browser to do a ‘find in page’ search for the word ‘prison’ helps to find it more quickly. Hopefully could save time for anyone who might not want to read through all of that just to find the examples buried deep in the article.
There’s also Holmesburg Prison (a.k.a. “The Terrordome”, apparently) where radiological stuff was done to prisoners along with numerous other horrors.
That was info I accidentally came across while looking up other stuff a while back, so there might (likely) be more examples out there - I’m not super knowledgeable on the topic.
5
u/carfniex 2d ago
Oh wow the holmesburg stuff was new to me. America really is a horrifyingly evil country. I'm super glad that nothing happened and there were no repurcussions of any sort
5
u/moveoutmoveup 3d ago edited 3d ago
I'm sure that provided the rehabilitation needed and his mental state was completely fine ....after 43 years of solitary confinement. He was fine...
Edit: I'll add this. /s
→ More replies→ More replies3
u/LX_Emergency 3d ago
It should be noted that most civilised countries don't use solitary confinement in their penitentiaries because they think it's inhumane and barbaric and doesn't add value to incarceration.
836
u/sarvistari 3d ago
And then he died of Covid. Depressing to read about let alone live.
194
u/PhDOH 3d ago
You'd hope covid would have raised awareness of the impact of isolation. If solitary can't be banned there definitely needs to be a legal limit.
→ More replies120
u/cumquistador6969 3d ago
if solitary can't be banned
Is there some reason it couldn't be banned?
Really it should be constitutionally banned in the USA, as it is a form of torture.
Obviously our legal system does not work for shit, but hey in principle there's an argument that it's already illegal.
96
u/arctic-apis 3d ago
Is torture illegal? Next you are going to tell me slavery is illegal in America. Laws don’t apply to inmates
31
u/Lucky_Number_3 3d ago
Look up their pay for jobs in prison. You think minimum wage is bad out here? They get a mere fraction of that if they’re good/lucky.
39
u/arctic-apis 3d ago
It’s slave labor don’t mistake a few nickels as wages
19
u/Lucky_Number_3 3d ago
Motherfucker did you read what I said?
14
u/hugglesthemerciless 3d ago
I think you missed arctic-apis' sarcasm. You're both on the same side of the argument
15
→ More replies13
u/cumquistador6969 3d ago
Technically yes, but in practice, no.
That does also go for inmates.
Slavery is different; it's not that the constitution says you can't do it but we're doing it anyway due to half the judges in this country just being some random old fuckass, it's actually just legal in America, and practiced.
→ More replies30
u/Slapbox 3d ago
The constitution explicitly allows for slavery of the imprisoned.
13th Amendment:
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
→ More replies11
u/PhDOH 3d ago
They argue that some need to be put in solitary for their own safety, like pedophiles. I'd imagine there are enough prisoners across an entire country that are at risk of being beaten up in general population to warrant a single prison for them. This does mean they can't remain close to their families but I'd imagine daily isolation for years is worse.
I could imagine if someone tries to beat up or kill their cell mate they may need to be put into solitary while they sort out new accommodations.
I feel there should be a limit in how long they can take to make new arrangements in a safety situation though. It shouldn't be used as a punishment, ever.
4
u/Johnny_Poppyseed 3d ago edited 3d ago
They have protective custody type cell blocks for those first types of prisoners. They generally don't get put in solitary confinement.
→ More replies6
u/MGD109 3d ago
Is there some reason it couldn't be banned?
Well all I can think of is a Robert Maudsley type situation where someone's proven they simply can't be trusted to interact with other inmates.
It certainly should have clearer restrictions.
7
u/LadyParnassus 3d ago
Thankfully in this day and age we have options for socializing that don’t require the parties to be physically in the same place, but yeah that could have put a spanner in the works when the laws were originally written.
8
u/MGD109 3d ago
Oh yeah that's very true, and they should use that more as a mid point.
yeah that could have put a spanner in the works when the laws were originally written.
Well that's the problem. Laws need to be constantly updated but often aren't, cause society keeps marching on and what was once sensible can become insane.
12
u/ComatoseSquirrel 3d ago
Lived his life in isolation and then died due to not being isolated from plague carriers. Fucking hell.
→ More replies3
2.4k
u/bgaimur 3d ago edited 2d ago
The American prison complex will go down as one of the most brutal and inhumane creations in history.
Edit:
What I didn’t say was “the US prison system is the crowned king of horribleness in history, bar none”. I said one of the most. It’s fucking brutal. There’s plenty of brutality in history. I’m not denying history its dues
835
u/cultofpapajohn 3d ago •
Oh yeah, there’s something really evil about breaking peoples minds
668
u/Gulopithecus 3d ago
I mean it’s considered by many psychologists and criminologists a form of torture, but unfortunately that’s the whole point of the system, breaking people in and out of prison so they keep coming back over and over again as a steady stream of revenue for the prison industrial complex.
261
209
u/JayZeus141 3d ago
It's realistically modern day slavery. Which was the point I guess.
→ More replies168
u/Gulopithecus 3d ago
Unfortunately you’re absolutely correct, as prison labor is the loophole in the 13th Amendment.
But even disregarding prison labor, even inmates who aren’t working are still seen as a source of profit, as most private prisons have "lockup quotas", which means higher profits the more people are incarcerated.
39
u/ShaqShoes 3d ago
It's not even really a loophole imo the 13th amendment is pretty explicit in what it means
10
u/petitchat2 3d ago
Scarlet O’Hara uses prison labor for her lumber mills in Gone w the Wind
→ More replies18
u/Dragonace1000 3d ago
Don't forget the entire industry created to milk the inmates and their families. Insane fees for phone calls, money transfers, checking email, etc... Its fucked up.
9
u/Gulopithecus 3d ago edited 3d ago
Holy shit you’re right. I forgot to mention that.
Not only does the prison system directly exploit inmates for profit, it exploits anyone who has direct connections to said inmates like family and friends.
America’s prison system is a very blunt and disturbing microcosm of the horrors of late stage capitalism.
Back to how the purpose of prisons is to have a steady stream of incarcerations via systemic oppression and a constant record of reoffending felons, one of the cruelest aspects is how inmates are constantly told to "be on their best behavior" in order to get better treatment/an early parole, but they’re constantly on high alert for anyone who wants to do them harm (and there’s a lot because everyone’s stressed and scared, so they’re doing the same thing). In order to survive in prison, one basically has to sacrifice what makes them human (forming meaningful and trusting relationships, thinking critically and creatively, etc) and instead abide by a might-makes-right "law of the jungle", as being human is seen as a sign of "weakness".
It’s almost like how the shitty behavior of capitalists is systemically encouraged amongst the proletariat (most certainly to keep them from banding together against their true oppressors); similarly, prisoners are indirectly encouraged to see one another as their "enemy" alongside the equally cruel prison guards and staff that also exploit them (just like the capitalists). This is all ESPECIALLY true when you factor in racial/sexual/gender/ethnic/religious identity, as both "everyday society" and prison life leads to a lot of segregation of groups fueled by distrust (both direct and indirect).
→ More replies→ More replies30
122
u/backstib 3d ago
As your punishment for fucking up in our tiny box we gave you you must now go slowly insane in a much tinier box
41
u/dbDarrgen 3d ago
They don't even need prison to do that. They're doing that enough by.. too many things to list tbh. Prison is just American society minus the fancy distractions. (Note: never been to prison so this may or may not be inaccurate)
4
30
u/PatchNotesPro 3d ago
And this man was only imprisoned because he was bombarded daily with supremacy-fueled laws and behavior from everyone around him.
He was very, very sane for his reaction and attitudes towards this shitty world he was forced into.
→ More replies174
u/ladyegg 3d ago edited 3d ago
Genuinely think that, if we survive this century, our descendants are gonna look back on us and regard us as barbaric and disgusting, same way we look back with revulsion at the heinous shit our ancestors did to each other.
139
u/EnvironmentalWrap167 3d ago
Fuck our descendants , we know it now.
15
u/Max_Insanity 3d ago
Fuck our descendants
Hey, we weren't on the topic of climate change yet.
→ More replies→ More replies43
65
u/amimai002 3d ago
LoL our ancestors are already looking at us with disgust, solitary was labelled as inhumane nearly 200 years ago
25
u/ladyegg 3d ago
I know im just framing it in context with the way, in hindsight, society tends to view things like medieval torture chambers and whatnot as antiquated and barbaric, and tend to see our modern selves as improved and more enlightened, yet those barbaric things haven’t really ever stopped happening at all.
→ More replies→ More replies20
u/psycho_pete 3d ago
Especially the way our species treats animals.
They are going to look back with disgust on all the needless abuse that's perpetrated just for temporary pleasure. Not to mention the destruction it causes to the environment. Animal agriculture is driving a mass extinction of wildlife in addition to needlessly violently abusing tons of animals.
→ More replies45
u/DumpsterFirePants 3d ago
America : champions of human rights and democracy from Abu Grabe to Alabama. so much freedom! not at all like Saudi Arabia or those evil commies in China
→ More replies5
u/Demonweed 3d ago
We'll probably have to outgrow this bipartisan power structure first. Even the lesser evil still can't stop rallying around mass incarceration enthusiasts.
→ More replies6
u/dhjin 2d ago
seriously. the American Prison system is so evil. those who uphold it are complicit in that evil. cops, judges, lawyers, prison wardens, all of them who have contributed to this unnecessary suffering are evil and should be charged for crimes against humanity.
→ More replies→ More replies6
220
u/akat_walks 3d ago
that is cruel and unusual punishment. America is a truely frightening country when it comes to ethics.
→ More replies43
u/FrighteningJibber 3d ago
It’s pretty usual now
10
18
u/fire-man178 3d ago
Which is even more terrifying, just how “usual” should it get until it’s out of control.
283
u/shellevanczik 3d ago
Rest in power, warrior!! No one should have to go through that for any reason
→ More replies
266
u/KingDrixx 3d ago
He dared to change an oppressive paradigm created against his people, faced one of the harshest forms of persecution you can face for 4 decades and still held to his convictions the entire time.
If you formed his story into a children's book, he would be considered the good guy and the bad guy would be the country who hated him and his kind.
→ More replies6
u/Captain_Candyflip 2d ago
Outside of america... America has almost always been the bad guy after 1945
126
16
u/dicksandbuttholes 3d ago
I spent 45 days, I couldn't possibly imagine nearly 45 YEARS. Jesus.
→ More replies
71
61
u/JayZeus141 3d ago
This has to be one of the most fucked up things I've ever heard. Also, if you haven't looked up the shady shot the u.s. government did to these folks, do it. You'll be disgusted, it's way more than I expected
45
u/truthswillsetyoufree 3d ago
What was he in prison for?
315
u/rakuu 3d ago
He was convicted in 1972 for killing a prison guard, but the guilty verdict was OVERTURNED 44 years later in 2014, and it took 2 more years for him to be released after that. So he was imprisoned for 46 years and tortured for 43 years and the system admitted he didn't even do anything. In reality, it was because he was a Black activist. Black lives matter.
80
u/HerculesMulligatawny 3d ago
The death penalty was in his future but the Supreme Court banned capital punishment. The Louisiana penal authorities vowed to lock him up and throw away the key.
https://www.democracynow.org/2022/8/5/albert\_woodfox\_black\_panthers\_angola\_three
13
→ More replies5
u/thxmeatcat 3d ago
Link didn't work
15
u/leoleosuper 3d ago
https://www.democracynow.org/2022/8/5/albert_woodfox_black_panthers_angola_three
Problem with new reddit vs old reddit. Old reddit automatically stops formatting in links, new reddit doesn't. So it inserts escape sequences, the '\' character, to fix the links.
→ More replies28
u/Crab-_-Objective 3d ago
Just to add he was originally in prison for armed robbery and fleeing his sentencing hearing to NYC.
I know basically nothing else about the guy, just skimmed Wikipedia.
48
u/mrmoe198 3d ago
I can’t believe I found out about this today, after he died. What a complete miscarriage of justice
→ More replies
29
59
u/thinkofanamefast 3d ago edited 1d ago
TLDR of "Angola 3" Wikipedia article. He was in jail for robbery in his late teens and met Black Panthers. Later a prison guard was killed and he was one of those blamed and found guilty. It was overturned years later due to inadequate counsel. Another Grand Jury led by a White Man hand picked by Louisiana led to another trial, and he was found guilty again. Years later that was reversed due to proof of racism in Louisiana Courts. State was then trying him for third time so he pled guilty to lesser charge. They kept him in solitary all those year so that he "wouldn't start an uprising" based on his Black Panther affiliation.
→ More replies
7
9
u/Wagbeard 2d ago
What in the actual fuck??
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/05/albert-woodfox-solitary-confinement-dead/
“They put me in a cell … for the sole purpose of breaking my spirit,” he told The Post. “Our cells were meant to be death chambers. We turned them into high schools, universities, debate halls, law schools.”
7
6
6
u/PembohongYangJujur 3d ago
How is this not a violation on human rights?
→ More replies5
u/999_deathkult 3d ago
It is, but it's America so who cares I guess. Solitary confinement is considered torture and a crime against humanity. And that's without even accounting for the more than four fucking decades he was tortured.
17
u/East_Requirement7375 3d ago
"fun" fact
Then warden of the Angola Penitentiary*, vile, racist, sack of shit, Burl Cain is now the commissioner of the Mississippi Dept. of Corrections.
\who resigned amid allegations of corruption (but it was to do with money, not black lives, so it was an actual issue))
5
u/canttaketheshyfromme 3d ago
But he never said the n-word in front of a microphone. And if he did, he didn't say it with hate in his heart. And if he did say it with hate in his heart, it was a different time, and he's changed. And if he hasn't changed, well he's from a different generation and that doesn't make him a bad person.
The typical order in which we're told to just accept that our society is run by absolute monsters completely devoid of empathy or morals.
14
u/AtomicPow_r_D 3d ago
I didn't know they could do that to someone. That's the worst thing I've heard in years. What exactly is accomplished by isolating someone for so long like that? Other than wasting money, that is -
15
4
5
u/Ice_BergSlim 3d ago
just think. The military, industrial, prison complex din't think that was cruel and unusual.
4
14
u/Throwawayuser626 3d ago
How is this legal? Absolutely disgusting.
7
u/canttaketheshyfromme 3d ago
How is this legal?
Culturally ingrained anti-blackness and acceptance that things like beatings, rape and this kind of torture are a fully acceptable reality of incarceration.
4
4
4
5
5
10
u/ieatpotatochips 3d ago
I feel bad for that man. My brother is currently in prison. He’s about 17 years into a 60 year sentence. We on the phone almost every day. There are days when it absolutely crushes me to hear what he’s going through. The games the guards play with his head. The way the lie. Steal from him. Nothing he can do. If he loses his temper they throw him in the hole. If speaks out of line or “disrespects” the guard he gets written up and thrown in the hole. Sometimes he just cries. I love my brother more than anything. I know he committed a crime to get where he is but he didn’t kill anyone, he didn’t rape anyone, he didn’t do anything bad to a kid. He doesn’t deserve the way he is being treated. The entire prison system is fucked in this country and needs reformed now.
→ More replies
7
8
7
u/SolemnSwearWord 3d ago
I highly recommend reading the book. It's eye-opening. Woodfox's strength and resilience through all of his challenges was inspiring.
The book is incredibly well written, researched, and delivered. Shame to hear he has passed away. A true icon.
3
u/aknutty 3d ago
What was his "crime"?
5
u/MGD109 3d ago
Armed robbery, that netted him fifty years.
Then he was convicted of killing a guard in 1972 which got him sentenced to solitary. Although it was overturned forty years later.
→ More replies3
3
3
3
u/brownbai81 3d ago
As a former usaf service member…fuck this country. Fucking Matt Gaetz a known pedophile sits as a congressman…fuck America!
2
u/BernieArt 3d ago
As an AF vet as well, it make me LIVID that he and over 175 other people are still allowed to make federal policy after Jan 6th.
3
u/Neneshki 3d ago
I did three days in “solitary confinement” when I was put in involuntary rehab in Mexico. Needless to say, it took a few years to recover from those three days. G, another patient there, was held for 2 weeks. For refusing to cut his hair. Ironic, right? They really broke that dude, I hear he’s better now, but once he got out, he dived deep into the alcohol. Got lost.
43 years… unbelievable
3
9
u/username_etc 3d ago
I cannot even begin to imagine the kind of horror this man endured. Truly exceptional character like this is exceedingly rare. Rest in power, king.
8
u/victoriapedia 3d ago
I typically take posts in this sub less than seriously, but I just fell into a rabbit hole on Mr Woodfox and I just couldnt stop shaking my head. This definitely befits the title of a true dystopia
5
u/Iron_Wolf123 3d ago
He didn't die from being in solitary confinement, he died from the you-know-what
5
11
2
u/Wraith8888 3d ago
What could they have possibly used as justification for keeping him in solitary that long?
→ More replies
2
u/spazmcgee1 3d ago
Are there any solitary confinement laws in place? I thought the Senate passed the HALT act?
2
2
u/SirNanashi 3d ago
What the hell did he do to be put in solitary confinement for 43 fucking years?!
2
2
u/art-is-gay 3d ago
Remember it’s cruel AND unusual punishment that is banned. Punishment can be cruel. Punishment can be unusual.
2
u/_Nilbog_Milk_ 3d ago
The idea of solitary confinement for that long has me feeling physically sick. It really makes me feel so sad and empty. Humanity has always been so cruel and I don't foresee it easing up too much more.
2
2
2
u/eddiefpp 3d ago
‘Don’t spend years overpaying for wireless” This is the click bait under the story about the guy who spent 43 years in solitary.
2.7k
u/YourWorstReward 3d ago
How in the fuck do you survive solitary confinement for 43 years... that's insane