Last of 'Angola Three' inmates released, thanks supporters

(AP) — The last inmate of a group known as the "Angola Three" pleaded no contest Friday to manslaughter in the 1972 death of a prison guard and was released after more than four decades in prison, raising a clenched fist as he walked free.

Albert Woodfox and two other men became known as the "Angola Three" for their decades-long stays in isolation at the Louisiana Penitentiary at Angola and other prisons.

Officials said they were kept in solitary because their Black Panther Party activism would otherwise rile up inmates at the maximum-security prison farm in Angola.

Woodfox, who turned 69 on the same day he was released, spoke to reporters and supporters briefly outside the jail before driving off with his brother.

[...] of Miller's killing, Woodfox was serving time for armed robbery and assault.

The star witness, a serial rapist who left death row and was pardoned by the Louisiana governor after his testimony, died before the second trial.

The event turned into a celebration party with cheers, happy birthday wishes, hugs and emotion.

The other Angola Three inmates were Herman Wallace, who died a free man in October 2013, just days after a judge granted him a new trial in Miller's death, and King, who was released in 2001 after his conviction in the death of a fellow inmate was overturned.