Robert King Wilkerson

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Robert King Wilkerson was a member of the Black Panther Party who spent 32 years in prison, 29 of them in solitary confinement in Angola Prison.

He was exonerated by the State of Louisiana in February of 2001 and subsequently released. Wilkerson and two other former members of the Black Panther Party who are still incarcerated ((Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace)), comprise the Angola 3. Much has been written about these men and their controversial cases. Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace to date are the longest-held prisoners in solitary isolation (or closed cell restriction) in the United States.

The Angola 3 have a civil suit pending (Wilkerson, Woodfox and Wallace vs The State of Louisiana et. al), a case which the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled has merit to proceed, based on claims that their 'solitary isolation' is a violation of the Eighth Amendment of their rights against "cruel and unusual punishment" under the United States Constitution.

Wilkerson now makes a type of pralines, which he calls freelines, to support his activism. He made pralines in prison while in solitary confinement. He burned paper in soda cans to cook the candies and gathered ingredients from other prisoners and guards.

Following the destruction that beset the city of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Wilkerson and Brandon Darby pitched in when Scott Crow and Malik Rahim began organizing the Common Ground Collective.