On December 22, 2000, the United States 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans threw out the 1961 indictment and subsequent murder conviction of award-winning prison journalist Wilbert Rideau. The Appeals Court cited racial discrimination in the selection of the grand jury, noting that five white jury commissioners in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, used race-coded cards to hand-pick whomever they wanted in the jury pool. The only African American they put in the jury pool that indicted Wilbert worked as a yardman for one of the jury commissioners. On June 18, 2001, the United States Supreme Court refused to review the 5th Circuit's decision. This means the State now either has to settle the case or retry Wilbert.

  Wilbert has spent 40 years in the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, longer than any criminal offender in the history of Calcasieu Parish. The Calcasieu District Attorney has said he is considering retrying Wilbert. Never in Louisiana's history has someone who has spent 40 years in prison been retried. According to numerous legal scholars, such a retrial - after 40 years of punishment - would be unprecedented anywhere in America.

Is this prosecution or persecution?

Read the NAACP's official resolution regarding Wilbert Rideau.

Visit Loyola University of New Orleans' Twomey Center for Peace Through Justice's Rideau Project website.