A man who spent forty years in solitary confinement in a Louisiana prison for a murder he has steadily maintained he did not commit has been released after a judge ordered Herman Wallace’s conviction overturned.  Wallace is dying of liver cancer and might have just days to live.

Herman Wallace is one those dubbed “The Angola Three”, named for Angola State Penitentiary that itself was named for the plantation that once occupied its grounds prior to the end of slavery in America.

Wallace was a Black Panther serving a sentence for armed robbery when Angola guard Brent Miller was killed.  He was convicted along with fellow Panther and inmate Albert Woodfox, who remains jailed despite having his conviction overturned three times.  A third inmate, Robert King, was convicted of killing another inmate and tossed in solitary alongside them.  That conviction wasn’t overturned until 2001, and he was freed.

All three men say they were targeted because they sought to expose the systematic cruelty at Angola, including racism, inhumane working conditions, and rape.

Their cases have attracted the support of groups such as Amnesty International.

Wallace's family wanted him moved to hospice care in New Orleans.  Prosecutors have 30 days to inform Wallace if charges will be refiled.