Angola Three inmate fighting for release after cancer diagnosis
Source: The Guardian
Angola Three inmate fighting for release after cancer diagnosis
Ed Pilkington in New York
theguardian.com, Wednesday 25 September 2013 15.34 BST
Herman Wallace, a former member of the Black Panther movement who was held in solitary confinement in Louisiana for more than 40 years, is fighting a desperate legal battle to be released from prison having been diagnosed with liver cancer and given just a few more weeks to live.
Wallace, 71, has petitioned the federal courts in Louisiana pleading with them to set him free so that he can spend his last days in hospice care. He is currently in the hospital wing of Elayn Hunt correctional center in St Gabriel, Louisiana, where his condition is reported to be weakening to the extent that some days he is unable to talk to his lawyers.
So far his request to be released has fallen on deaf ears. A federal magistrate judge in Louisiana last week recommended that despite his medical condition, which doctors have concluded is beyond hope, he should remain incarcerated and effectively die in prison.
His attorneys now have until 30 September to give their response to a federal district judge. George Kendall, Wallace's lawyer, told the Guardian that he remains optimistic: "We are hopeful that this meritorious habeus petition will be reviewed without delay by a federal judge," he said.
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/25/angola-three-herman-wallace-cancer-release