If Mumia Abu-Jamal Dies, or Is Already Dead, Isn't That State Murder?

By William Boardman, Reader Supported News

02 April 15

Revictimization is Pennsylvania policy for this political prisoner

hen a brilliant, articulate, truth-telling 60-year-old black man is being traduced and apparently tortured to death by Pennsylvania government authorities, why aren’t you learning about this unprincipled official malfeasance from most of the mainstream media?

The simple answer is that, in America, it’s still dangerous to be a brilliant, articulate, truth-telling black man. The slightly more complicated answer is that, in America, it’s even more dangerous to be Mumia Abu-Jamal and to be still insisting on your innocence even though you’ve been convicted in an absurdly biased trial that was more like a lynching for killing a cop in 1981, as Amnesty International reported in 2011:

Mumia Abu-Jamal’s trial featured the dismissal of African American jurors, inadequate defense representation, an openly hostile judge, the use of political statements to argue for a death sentence, and law enforcement’s unseemly agitation for execution throughout the entire process….

Given these fundamental flaws, it would have been unconscionable to put a Mumia Abu-Jamal to death.

The dead cop in the case was working undercover to expose very real and chronic police corruption in Philadelphia. No one had a stronger motive for killing Daniel Faulkner than some of his fellow cops. The analysis by means-motive-opportunity fits the responding police officers far better than Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook). But if there was ever any investigation of the cops, it’s not widely known.

The state decision-makers knew who they wanted for their defendant and they pursued him doggedly till they got him to death row. Then the U.S. Supreme Court intervened and told the state it had no lawful right to kill Mumia. Years later, Pennsylvania’s official rage remains unassuaged, as officials blame Mumia for the state’s own miscarrying of justice.

Now it appears that the state, through its prison system, could be carrying out the death penalty by other means: allowing Mumia’s medical caretakers to execute him by neglect.

Prison medical care only made Mumia sicker

This execution, it that’s what it is, began some weeks ago, if not more. Prison medical records are closely held and even a prisoner’s family is sometimes unable to find out a prisoner’s medical condition. As of April 1, prison and other state officials had refused to discuss Mumia’s medical records in any detail. Information about Mumia’s treatment comes from his attorney, family, and supporters, without contradiction by those in a position to know the facts first hand.

Mumia, who will turn 61 on April 24, has sought medical help in prison for at least the last three months, during which his health has deteriorated. Apparently sometime late March 29 or early March 30, Mumia was sick enough that prison doctors had him transferred, nearly unconscious, to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Schuylkill Medical Center in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.

Unable to find out what was going on with Mumia, his family and supporters rallied to Pottsville to put pressure on authorities. At a press conference outside the hospital on March 31, Mumia’s attorney, Bret Grote, summed up the situation this way:

Mumia’s wife and brother were allowed to see him separately for 30 minutes each late this morning. The mobilization worked. But our job is not yet done.

On the morning of March 30, 2015 Mumia fainted in the prison and was taken to the ICU of a nearby clinic. His blood sugar count was dangerously high at 779. He was in a diabetic shock. For perspective: diabetic coma is 800. He is recovering slowly and still in ICU. His blood sugar is currently at 333.

That Mumia had diabetes was a complete shock to all of us. For the last 3 months, he has been under medical care in the prison and diagnosed with eczema. And since he had three “comprehensive” blood tests since February, diabetes should have been diagnosed and treated accordingly. But it never was.

Instead he has been subjected to hell by the prison medical system. In January Mumia was shaken out of a deep sleep by guards during count. For the infraction of not being awake during count he was punished for 2 weeks, without calls or yard. Deep trance-like sleep and lethargy were the first signs of the problem.

In addition to the physical depletion produced by untreated diabetes, he was/is also dealing with a severe outbreak of eczema. He likened his skin to that of an elephant’s. It was raw, blistered and bloody all over. He was so sick that he was not taking visitors. The “meds” he was given for his skin produced an extreme adverse reaction. His skin swelled and ruptured and he was put in the prison infirmary for 2 weeks.

PA Police have arrested, killed, and fire-bombed black activists

As of late in the day April 1, prison authorities continued to control the flow of information from the hospital, leaving Mumia and his family in the dark about his medical condition. Some medical staff have reportedly spoken privately with family members. Prison authorities have shackled Mumia to his bed in the ICU, with two armed guards stationed in the room. Two more armed guards are posted outside the door.

Longtime activist and Mumia-supporter Pam Africa accused state officials of deliberately inducing Mumia’s suffering:

Prison officials are lying. Mumia is going through torture at the hands of the Department of Corrections through medical neglect. It is clear to people that they want to kill Mumia. They gave him the wrong medication which made his condition worse.

Inmates on the inside who questioned what was happening have been subjected to direct retaliation by the superintendent. They have been moving concerned inmates out of Mumia’s unit in an effort to both bury and keep this critical information from the public.

Sharpening their concern for Mumia’s life was the recent experience of another prisoner who died in Pennsylvania prison custody, after five days of being held incommunicado in the Wilkes Barre General Hospital. On January 4, 2015, Phil Africa was observed exercising normally, but later went to the prison infirmary saying he wasn’t feeling well. On January 10, he died, after six days of nearly total isolation by prison officials. No cause of death has been reported. A search of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections website for “Phil Africa” produced no relevant results (a similar search of the same website for “Mumia Abu-Jamal” produced no relevant result more recent than October 2014).

Phil Africa was a member of the MOVE organization, long under aggressive attack by Pennsylvania authorities. He was one of the MOVE 9, who were sentenced to prison in 1978 after a police shoot-out in Philadelphia. In 1985, Philadelphia police fire-bombed a MOVE row house during a shoot-out, killing 11 people (five of them children) and destroying another 64 houses nearby.

MOVE continues to advocate for the release of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Police officials target Mumia Abu-Jamal at every opportunity

Police vigilantes keep Mumia on their hit list and go after him whenever he surfaces. And they even go after people who simply treat Mumia with respect.

In October 2014, police all over the country got outraged at Goddard College in Vermont for having its alumnus Mumia as a graduation speaker. It didn’t matter to police that Mumia remained in jail, that his speech was taped, or that the graduating “class” was tiny. Police demanded, unsuccessfully, that Goddard cancel Mumia, and then picketed the college when it ignored the threats and acted within the Constitution’s free speech guarantee.

Earlier in 2014, police bullies had better luck with Congress as they successfully executed a high-tech lynching of attorney Debo Adegbile for the “crime” of participating in Mumia Abu-Jamal’s legal defense as a member of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. This travesty of guilt-by-association (with someone not necessarily guilty) had bipartisan support in the Senate from all Republicans and 7 principle-free Democrats.

In the wake of Mumia’s remote appearance at Goddard, the Pennsylvania legislature, with police prodding, passed constitution-hostile legislation designed to prevent any such exercise of free speech to happen again if Pennsylvania could prevent it. The bill, the Revictimization Relief Act, was popularly known as the “Muzzle Mumia Act.” As soon as Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett signed it into law, Mumia and his supporters took the state to court to challenge the law’s constitutionality. On March 6, a federal judge rejected the state’s motion to dismiss the suit and ordered that it go forward. The day Mumia was taken to the hospital, some of his supporters were in court for a hearing on the case.

Late in the day April 1, Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio in San Francisco emailed an update om Mumia’s situation. Prison Radio carries Mumia’s programs, the most recent on March 24. According to Hanrahan as of 4 p.m.:

Mumia's youngest brother Bill Cook and his oldest son Jamal Hart have been able to visit him today for 30 minutes each.

As of today, a new prison rule is going to prevent his wife Wadiya and his brother Keith from visiting again for an entire week. The new rule states that only one visit per week per immediate family member will be allowed.

This also means that there will be many times when we will not have any contact with Mumia during this critical week.

Please do continue calling the prison and medical center to demand that Wadiya and Keith can visit Mumia again this week!

Hanrahan included these phone numbers:

SCI Mahanoy / Superintendent John Kerestes – 570-773-2158 x8102

Schuylkill Medical Center – 570-621-5000

STILL SICK, MUMIA SENT BACK TO PRISON

Shortly after noon April 2, Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio emailed this news:

“At 7pm last night [April 1], Mumia Abu-Jamal was transferred back to the infirmary at SCI Mahanoy – the same prison infirmary that failed to identify his diabetes, gravely misdiagnosed him, and gave him severely detrimental treatment. This is an outrage!” [Emphasis in original.]

Mumia supporters plan to gather for a press conference at the prison – SCI Mahanoy, 301 Morea Road, Frackville, Pennsylvania. They will then caravan for a demonstration at the Department of Corrections in Mechanicsburg.

Prison officials apparently moved Mumia without informing the public, his family, or his attorney. There is no recent news about Mumia on the prison website There is no reliable information available regarding Mumia’s medical condition.

William M. Boardman has over 40 years experience in theatre, radio, TV, print journalism, and non-fiction, including 20 years in the Vermont judiciary. He has received honors from Writers Guild of America, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Vermont Life magazine, and an Emmy Award nomination from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.