The Gillespie-Senter
Memorial Community Breakfast
October 8, 2022
While we will not hold a session for the month of October, we urge those who can attend to participate in remembering the life and work of Albert Woodfox during a special Celebration of Life ceremony at the Treme Community Center, 900 North Villere Street, New Orleans, Saturday October 8, 10am until
Here's the announcement we received from the Vera Institute of Justice regarding Albert Woodfox:
Dear friends,
On Saturday, October 8, the life of Albert Woodfox will be honored at the Tremé Community Center in New Orleans. Woodfox, a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist for his memoir Solitary and
pioneer against solitary confinement passed away on August 4, 2022. He
spent 44 years in solitary confinement at the Louisiana State
Penitentiary at Angola. His time in confinement is the longest span ever
endured by anyone. As Robert Hillary King, the last surviving member of
the Angola 3, said,
"[A]s awareness grew about Woodfox’s case, it brought increased
national scrutiny about solitary confinement and its effects,
particularly on juveniles, a practice that is now banned or limited in
23 states.” Katy Reckdahl writes that "[I]n Louisiana, the state
Legislature passed a bill in June limiting isolation to one carefully
monitored 24-hour period for youth . . . only [to] be used where there
is an extreme threat to life."
Traveling the world, Woodfox served on expert panels and was part of the
vanguard fighting to end solitary confinement. His commitment to
influencing policy and legislation that reduced the cruelty of solitary
confinement serves as a legacy of triumph.
For more information, contact Brad Ott at bradott@bellsouth.net or (504) 810-3919
The Gillespie-Senter Memorial Community Breakfast has been a project of
the First Unitarian Universalist Church Social Justice Team since May 1983
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