What will I learn about: Learn how Albert Woodfox survived over 40 years of solitary confinement after being framed for murder, using education and activism to maintain his humanity?

Learn how Albert Woodfox survived over 40 years of solitary confinement after being framed for murder, using education and activism to maintain his humanity.

What will I learn about: Explore the deep-rooted impact of segregation and extreme poverty in mid-century New Orleans, which fueled a tragic pipeline from petty survival crimes to harsh incarcerations?

Explore the deep-rooted impact of segregation and extreme poverty in mid-century New Orleans, which fueled a tragic pipeline from petty survival crimes to harsh incarcerations.

What will I learn about: the horrifying realities of Louisiana's Angola prison, a former slave plantation where guards actively exploited sexual violence and grueling physical labor to control inmates?

Discover the horrifying realities of Louisiana's Angola prison, a former slave plantation where guards actively exploited sexual violence and grueling physical labor to control inmates.

What will I learn about: how the criminal justice system weaponized corrupt police tactics, such as charging innocent black men with unsolved crimes just to force plea bargains and clear police records?

Understand how the criminal justice system weaponized corrupt police tactics, such as charging innocent black men with unsolved crimes just to force plea bargains and clear police records.

What will I learn about: how an encounter with the Black Panthers in a New York jail transformed Woodfox's life, demonstrating the profound power of dignity, fearlessness, and compassionate leadership?

Find out how an encounter with the Black Panthers in a New York jail transformed Woodfox's life, demonstrating the profound power of dignity, fearlessness, and compassionate leadership.

Theme Song

Solitary

Unbroken by Four Decades in Solitary Confinement. My Story of Transformation and Hope

Albert Woodfox

★ 4.5 / 5(27 ratings)

Start ListeningDownload QR code that opens AudiobookHub on the App Store

Try free on iPhoneScan to start in 5 seconds

Categories:

Society & Culture Biography & Memoir

If You're Curious About These Questions...

You should listen to this audiobook

💡Have you ever wondered how a human being can survive over 40 years inside a six-by-nine-foot cell without losing their mind?
💡Did you know that a person’s political activism could make them the target of one of the longest and most brutal punishments in American history?
💡Are you curious about what it truly takes to maintain your dignity and spirit when an entire institution is designed to break you?

Listen to Solitary — Free Audiobook

Loading player...

Key Takeaways from Solitary

✓Learn how Albert Woodfox survived over 40 years of solitary confinement after being framed for murder, using education and activism to maintain his humanity.
✓Explore the deep-rooted impact of segregation and extreme poverty in mid-century New Orleans, which fueled a tragic pipeline from petty survival crimes to harsh incarcerations.
✓Discover the horrifying realities of Louisiana's Angola prison, a former slave plantation where guards actively exploited sexual violence and grueling physical labor to control inmates.
✓Understand how the criminal justice system weaponized corrupt police tactics, such as charging innocent black men with unsolved crimes just to force plea bargains and clear police records.
✓Find out how an encounter with the Black Panthers in a New York jail transformed Woodfox's life, demonstrating the profound power of dignity, fearlessness, and compassionate leadership.

Learning Tools

Reinforce what you learned from Solitary

Mind Map

Solitary

Early Life & Systemic Racism+

Angola Prison's Brutality+

Black Panther Awakening+

The Frame-Up & Trial+

43 Years in Solitary+

Systemic Injustice & Freedom+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 8

Why did many innocent black men, like Woodfox initially, end up taking plea bargains for crimes they didn't commit?

A. Police commonly charged them with all unsolved crimes on the books to 'clean' them, making a plea deal seem preferable to waiting years for a trial.
B. They were not allowed legal representation under Louisiana state law unless they agreed to plead guilty.
C. They wanted to be sent to Angola prison to join established civil rights activist groups.
D. Juries in the 1960s legally presumed guilt until proven innocent, making trials nearly impossible to win.

Question 2 of 8

How did guards at Angola prison exploit the rampant sexual violence among inmates?

A. They used it as a reason to secure more funding and weapons from the state government.
B. They used the threat of moving or keeping 'slaves' to control violent prisoners, and sometimes sold the names of weak inmates to predators.
C. They forced victims to work the hardest jobs in the sugarcane fields as a form of punishment.
D. They used it to justify placing all new inmates in solitary confinement immediately upon arrival.

Question 3 of 8

According to the text, how did the Black Panther Party initially establish authority and respect on Woodfox's tier in the New York prison?

A. By physically intimidating the prison guards and rival gang leaders.
B. By smuggling in contraband and selling it to other inmates.
C. By sharing their food, treating people well, and teaching others to read.
D. By organizing violent riots to protest the prison's living conditions.

Question 4 of 8

What specific initiative did Woodfox and Herman Wallace establish in Angola that threatened the prison's status quo?

A. A labor union for prisoners working in the sugarcane fields.
B. An underground newspaper exposing guard brutality to the outside world.
C. A legal clinic to help inmates sue the state of Louisiana for unpaid wages.
D. An anti-rape group that protected new prisoners on 'fresh fish day.'

Question 5 of 8

Which of the following best describes the prosecution's case against Woodfox for the murder of prison guard Brent Miller?

A. It relied on contradictory eyewitness testimonies from inmates who were later rewarded with better living quarters and freedoms.
B. It was based on a bloody fingerprint found at the scene that perfectly matched Woodfox's records.
C. It was supported by a typewritten confession signed by Woodfox on behalf of the Vanguard Army.
D. It utilized forensic evidence from a bloody knife found hidden beneath Woodfox's mattress.

Question 6 of 8

How did Woodfox, Wallace, and King manage to slowly gain small privileges, such as books and fans, while in solitary confinement?

A. By bribing sympathetic guards with money sent from outside activist groups.
B. By teaching themselves law from library books and filing lawsuits about prison conditions.
C. By agreeing to act as informants for the prison administration regarding other inmates.
D. By writing letters to the United Nations special rapporteur on torture.

Question 7 of 8

Why did the local Black Panther support committee fail to deliver funds for Woodfox’s defense during his murder trial?

A. The funds were stolen by corrupt prison guards who intercepted his mail.
B. The leaders of the committee, Harry and Jill Schafer, were FBI infiltrators paid to sabotage his defense.
C. The committee members spent the money to post bail for Huey Newton instead.
D. The state of Louisiana legally froze all bank accounts associated with the Black Panthers.

Question 8 of 8

How did Albert Woodfox finally secure his freedom in 2016 at the age of 68?

A. He was fully exonerated by DNA evidence that identified the real killer of Brent Miller.
B. The governor of Louisiana granted him a full pardon due to pressure from Amnesty International.
C. He took a no-contest plea deal that allowed him to maintain his innocence while accepting time served.
D. He won a Supreme Court case that declared all forms of solitary confinement unconstitutional.

Solitary — Full Chapter Overview

1Recommendation
2Woodfox was raised amid poverty and racism, and endured a deeply chaotic early youth.
3At Louisiana’s Angola prison, racism, corruption, rape, and violence ruled a hellish brutal world.
4After escaping custody, Woodfox landed in a New York prison, where the Black Panthers utterly transformed his life there.
5The Black Panthers were a powerful good, giving Woodfox identity, self-respect, and lasting hope.
6Woodfox established a new Black Panther branch inside Angola, and the authorities harshly punished him for it.
7Solitary confinement conditions were bleak, yet Woodfox steadily worked to improve them.
8Woodfox’s conviction for Brent Miller’s murder was a profoundly racist miscarriage of justice indeed.
9During Woodfox’s solitary confinement, conditions were cruel and inhumane.
10Throughout his long fight, the criminal justice system relentlessly opposed Woodfox.
11Woodfox gained his freedom, yet his struggle for racial justice continues onward.

Solitary Summary & Overview

Solitary (2019) is the punishing tale of an African American man’s brutal treatment at the hands of the criminal justice system in Louisiana. In and out of prison as a young man, Albert Woodfox was framed for a murder he didn’t commit, apparently due to his membership in the Black Panther movement. He spent over 40 years in solitary confinement in a six by nine foot cell, treated inhumanely by a system that, by his account, is institutionally racist and cruel.

Who Should Listen to Solitary?

People who care about justice
Anyone searching for a better understanding of entrenched racial inequality

About the Author: Albert Woodfox

Albert Woodfox was born in 1947 into a poor Louisiana family, and grew up in New Orleans. After 44 years of solitary confinement, during which time he educated himself and others, Woodfox was finally released in 2016. He is now an activist.