Held in solitary 40 years, now free

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Herman Wallace, a terminally ill Louisiana inmate who served more than 40 years in solitary confinement, was released from prison Tuesday night, hours after a federal judge vacated his murder conviction and sentence, an attorney told CNN.

An employee at a prison where Wallace was incarcerated confirmed the release but would not give her full name. CNN left a message Tuesday night with a spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections.

State officials had been threatened with contempt if they did not release Wallace immediately.

Courtesy CNN

Wallace, who has liver cancer, is one of the "Angola 3" -- three inmates who claim they tried to point out injustices at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola during the late 1960s and 1970s.

Wallace's sisters, nieces and nephews want him moved to hospice care in New Orleans, said one of his attorneys. The freed inmate left Hunt Correctional Center by ambulance, according to his lawyers.

"He has claimed there was an unfair trial for 41 years and finally we have that ruling," attorney Nick Trenticosta told CNN on Tuesday night. "For him to pass on from this world with friends and family at his side is extremely important."

The release came hours after U.S. District Chief Judge Brian A. Jackson in Baton Rouge said that women were systematically excluded from the grand jury that indicted Wallace in the 1972 slaying of a guard at Louisiana State Penitentiary.

Jackson declined to address Wallace's other claims, including an allegation that the state knowingly used false testimony and withheld exculpatory evidence at trial.

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