Imagine being in a cell that's six foot by nine foot. Well, prison's not supposed to be fun, is it? But you have no one to talk to - because you’re in solitary confinement, for 23 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, 37 years of your life… and counting. How do you not go mad?

Director Vadim Jean spoke about his reasons for making the documentary ‘In The Land Of The Free’, which was recently screened at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival - “I first heard about the Angola 3 from (Body Shop Founder) Anita Roddick.” When he attended her memorial, a man named Robert King spoke about her. King was one of the Angola 3, the only one to have been released from prison so far, and had met the Roddicks when they campaigned against the way the Angola 3 were treated. Jean continued, “Anita’s big thing was ‘just do something’ and her finger was pointing at me, and I had to do something.”
 
The film tells the story of Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox and Robert King – the Angola 3, who between them have spent almost a century in solitary confinement in Angola, the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Initially sentenced for minor crimes, it is believed that Wallace and Woodfox were stitched up for the murder of a prison guard due to their involvement with the Black Panther Party. This led to an increased prison sentence and the additional punishment of prolonged solitary confinement. Despite the evidence of a bloodied finger print at the crime scene, and the fact that the warden’s widow believes these men are not the people who murdered her husband, they still remain incarcerated today.

King was held in the same conditions, initially under investigation for the same prison guard murder, despite the fact he was not in Angola at the time, and was then convicted of the murder of a fellow inmate; the main evidence coming from a blind witness who was promised early release on condition of testifying against King. King’s conviction was overturned in 2001, and he is now free.
 
The film explores the three men’s backgrounds, their political sympathies with the Black Panther Party, and the case against them. It is a fascinating insight into America’s prisons – one particularly weird revelation was the fact that every year the prisoners take part in a public derby. Four prisoners compete to win $200 by sitting around a poker table in the middle of the field, while a bull races round them. Last one to get up from the table wins (if you don’t get gored, that is).
 
Wallace and Woodfox are still in prison today. Viewers of the film are encouraged to write to them in prison to (a) show support and (b) because currently all their mail has to be opened before they receive it – to allegedly look for clues (!) – so the more mail they receive, the more annoying this is going to be for the authorities.
 
Words: Holly Howe

For more information please visit www.inthelandofthefreefilm.co.uk