![AngolaLAPrison](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/AngolaLAPrison.jpg)
Robert Hillary King (born May 30, 1942), also known as Robert King Wilkerson, is an American known as one of the
Angola Three
The Angola Three are three African-American former prison inmates (Robert Hillary King, Albert Woodfox, and Herman Wallace) who were held for decades in solitary confinement while imprisoned at Louisiana State Penitentiary (also known as Angol ...
, former prisoners who were held at
Louisiana State Penitentiary
The Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola, and nicknamed the "Alcatraz of the South", "The Angola Plantation" and "The Farm"Sutton, Keith "Catfish".Out There: Angola angling. ''ESPN Outdoors''. May 31, 2006. Retrieved on August 25, 2010. ...
in
solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...
for decades after being convicted in 1973 of prison murders.
Initially held at Angola after being convicted of armed robbery, King served a total of 32 years there, 29 of them in solitary. His conviction was overturned on appeal in 2001, and a new trial was ordered. The state indicted him again and he accepted a plea deal for lower charges, in exchange for time served, rather than go through another trial. He was released in 2001.
King has consistently maintained his innocence in the prison murder. He was among the co-founders of the Angola chapter of the
Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, Califo ...
. With
Albert Woodfox
The Angola Three are three African-American former prison inmates (Robert Hillary King, Albert Woodfox, and Herman Wallace) who were held for decades in solitary confinement while imprisoned at Louisiana State Penitentiary (also known as Angol ...
and the late
Herman Wallace, also former Black Panthers, he is known as one of the
Angola 3
The Angola Three are three African-American former prison inmates ( Robert Hillary King, Albert Woodfox, and Herman Wallace) who were held for decades in solitary confinement while imprisoned at Louisiana State Penitentiary (also known as Ang ...
, men who were held for decades in solitary confinement at Angola. With the death of Woodfox in August 2022, King is also now the last surviving member of the Angola 3 as well.
Biography
Early life
King was born on 30 May 1942 in
Gonzales, Louisiana
Gonzales is a city in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2020 census, it has a population of 12,231. Known as the "Jambalaya Capital of the World", it is famous for its annual Jambalaya Festival, which was first held in 1968. S ...
to Hillary Wilkerson and Clara Mae King. He grew up in
. He had an older sister, Mary (born 1940), who died around the 1960s, and a younger sister, Ella Mae. They lived in a poor neighborhood in New Orleans, where he became involved in petty crime as a youth, and learned to fear police.
Criminal activity and charges
King has admitted to being involved in petty crime as a youth, but says that he was innocent of his first major conviction: for armed robbery. He was sentenced to 35 years and first held at Orleans Parish Prison, where he first met
Albert Woodfox
The Angola Three are three African-American former prison inmates (Robert Hillary King, Albert Woodfox, and Herman Wallace) who were held for decades in solitary confinement while imprisoned at Louisiana State Penitentiary (also known as Angol ...
. The latter man was also convicted of armed robbery, and was sentenced to 50 years. After being held at the parish prison, King was sent to Angola, which he entered at the age of 18.
[Erwin James, "37 years of solitary confinement: the Angola three"](_blank)
''The Guardian'', 10 March 2010; accessed 7 March 2019
Granted parole in 1965, at the age of 22, King returned to New Orleans. He married a woman named Clara and began a brief semi-pro boxing career under the nickname of "Speedy King". Several weeks prior to the birth of his son, King was one of two suspects arrested on charges of robbery. After being held in jail for over 11 months, King's acquaintance, known as "Boogie", accepted a
plea bargain
A plea bargain (also plea agreement or plea deal) is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or '' nolo contendere.'' This may mean that the defendan ...
and was released on time served.
Simultaneously, the
District Attorney
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...
dropped the charges against King, but he was not released. His having been arrested in the company of a now admitted felon (Boogie, since his plea deal), was deemed a parole violation. King was returned to Angola prison, where he served 15 months before being released on parole again in January 1969.
King was later arrested again on robbery charges, and was convicted. His co-defendant on these charges testified that he had picked King out of a mug shot lineup only after being tortured by police into making a false statement. King appealed his conviction. While being held at
Orleans Parish Prison, he escaped, but was re-captured weeks later.
Upon being returned to Orleans Parish Prison in 1971, King met some of the twelve
Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, Califo ...
members who had been arrested after armed 1970 confrontations with police in September and November 1970. Law enforcement was trying to expel them from their headquarters near a housing project.
["1971: Black Panthers acquitted after tangle with New Orleans police"](_blank)
''The Times Picayune'', 15 December 2011; accessed 9 March 2011 They had established breakfast and education programs there. A bystander was killed by police, and the twelve Panthers were charged with attempted murder. They were acquitted by a jury.
King became radicalized and worked with the Panthers; they organized and participated in non-violent hunger strikes at the prison in an effort to improve conditions.
In 1972, officials moved King from the parish prison to Angola to serve the remainder of his sentence. It was shortly after the stabbing death there of prison guard Brent Miller. King allied with the Black Panthers. Upon arrival at the prison, on the grounds that King "wanted to play lawyer for another inmate," he was immediately put into solitary confinement: first in the "dungeon," then the "Red Hat", and finally in the Closed Correction Cell (CCR) unit, where he was held until his 2001 release. In 1973, King was charged with murdering another prisoner, and was convicted. At the trial, he was bound and gagged. After he had maintained his innocence for years and appealed, his conviction was overturned in 2001.
The state re-indicted him for the murder and said they would retry King on these charges. He accepted a plea bargain of lesser charges and was released, as he had already served more time than the sentence at the lower charges of conspiracy to commit murder.
Later life
Since his release, Robert King has worked as a speaker on prison reform and the justice system. He has been featured in numerous print, media and film articles and interviews worldwide including:
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
,
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...
,
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
,
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. He appeared in two documentaries about him and his fellow prisoners in long-term solitary: ''Angola 3: Black Panthers and the Last Slave Plantation'' and ''Land of the Free'' (2010). He also provided continuing support to Wallace and Woodfox in prison.
His autobiography, ''From the Bottom of the Heap: The Autobiography of a Black Panther'' (2008), was released by
. He won a PASS Award for his book in 2009 from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency.
In prison, King started making
s while in solitary confinement, gathering ingredients from other prisoners and guards. The story of his candymaking in prison has become the most requested story that the ''
'' have produced for NPR. He calls his pralines "freelines," with funds used to support his activism. He sells them from his website.
Following the destruction throughout the poorest areas of New Orleans in the wake of
in 2005, King pitched in with local activists to organize communities and provide aid. Local activist
to provide assistance and medical care to local residents left destitute after the storm.
King has spoken internationally against the use of solitary confinement and on behalf of Wallace and Woodfox while they were still imprisoned. He has spoken at college campuses and community centers across the US, and before the Parliaments in the Netherlands, South Africa and Portugal. On 1 December 2010, King was invited as the inaugural speaker at ''
in June 2015. On a podcast in 2020, King explained why he became a Celtic fan: