Kenneth Whitmore
Biography
Louisiana Black Panther Party organizer from Baton Rouge. Convicted in the 1970s for a Klan-linked killing he denied committing and sentenced to life at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, where he spent more than three decades — much of it in extended solitary confinement in CCR (Closed Cell Restricted). A close comrade of the Angola 3, Whitmore was one of the longest-held BPP prisoners in the South. Granted parole in 2016 after a years-long international solidarity campaign.
A correction to the note above: Whitmore was never in fact paroled. The 2016 milestone widely celebrated by his supporters was his release from more than three decades of solitary confinement into the general population at Angola, around 2015; he remains at the Louisiana State Penitentiary serving the life sentence, with his non-unanimous-jury challenge still pending.
