Biography
Herman Wallace was an Angola prisoner and prison organizer associated with the Black Panther Party and the Angola 3. A contemporary report identifies him as one of four prisoners charged in the April 1972 killing of an Angola prison guard. The Black Panther reported that his trial with Gilbert Montegut began in Baton Rouge on January 7, 1974. Chester Jackson’s case was severed and he became a prosecution witness; Montegut was acquitted, while Wallace was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. The newspaper described all four defendants as active in campaigns to improve prison work and living conditions and challenged the prosecution evidence. Those criticisms are attributed to the contemporary report. This account records the original trial and sentence, rather than a complete account of subsequent appeals or actual time served. Source: The Black Panther, February 9, 1974, pp. 5 and 8.
Defenestrator’s April 2009 Angola Three coverage described Woodfox and Wallace’s Black Panther organizing, decades in solitary confinement and their continuing legal challenges. It reported their March 2008 move to a maximum-security dormitory and return to solitary eight months later. The article quoted Warden Burl Cain’s October 22, 2008 deposition on political beliefs. These transfers did not end imprisonment. Defenestrator, issue 44, April 2009, original PDF page 11. Source: https://we.riseup.net/assets/6831/versions/2/def44.pdf#page=11
Workers World reports a September 19, 2006 Angola hearing on Herman Wallace’s new-trial application, alleging that benefits promised to prosecution witness Hezekiah Brown had been withheld from the defense. Attorney Nick Trenticosta presented the challenge. An anticipated ruling within thirty days was not an actual order or release. Workers World, October 5, 2006, vol.48 no.39, original PDF page 3. Source: https://www.workers.org/pdf/2006/ww100506.pdf#page=3
The Angola Three civil-rights report and recommendation records Wallace’s arrival at Angola in 1969 and placement in extended lockdown on April 18, 1972. It recounts his transfer to Orleans Parish custody on February 11, 1998, communal housing there until March 31, transfer to Hunt Correctional Center, and return to Angola lockdown on April 27. These are historical custody-location and conditions details, not separate additive imprisonment periods or new release dates.
