Supporters March to Prison to Demand Medical Care for Mumia Abu-Jamal, at Risk of Losing Eyesight

Amy Goodman: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I'm Amy Goodman, with Juan González. One of the world's most well-known political prisoners, Mumia Abu-Jamal, was arrested on this day in 1981 for the murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, for which Mumia Abu-Jamal has always claimed innocence. Amnesty International and human rights groups have found he was deprived of a fair trial. His lawyers say evidence shows his trial was tainted by judicial bias and police and prosecutorial misconduct, like withholding —of evidence, bribing or coercing witnesses to lie. Evidence in boxes discovered in the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office by D.A. Larry Krasner in 2019 includes notes from one of 2 key witnesses to prosecutors requesting, quote, the money owed to me, unquote. Mumia Abu-Jamal was an award-winning journalist, member of the Philadelphia chapter of the Black Panther Party, ultimately sentenced to death, but went on to write 15 books and record a weekly column while a global movement built around his case. In 2012, Mumia Abu-Jamal was moved from death row to the general prison population after a federal appeals court in 2011 upheld the overturning of his death sentence by a federal judge, citing improper jury instructions, and prosecutors agreed to a life sentence rather than a new sentencing hearing. Mumia Abu-Jamal is now 71 years old, was recently blind for 8 months until he had cataract surgery, but needs more medical care to regain his vision.

Noel Hanrahan: I'm sorry.

Amy Goodman: —to prevent him from permanently losing his vision. Dozens of his supporters, who hope to draw attention to his claims of medical neglect, are on a 103-mile, 12-day march that's ending today in Frackville, Pennsylvania, where Mumia is imprisoned at SCI Mahanay.

Speaker 3: We're taking that long walk because the walk for freedom is a long walk. And we do it with an intense, extra-motivated passion, because we just lost a bold freedom fighter in Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, in the clutches of the state. And that should not have happened. So, under no circumstances can we allow the state to take any more of our freedom fighters. It's time to get Mumia all the healthcare he needs.

Amy Goodman: In a minute, we'll speak with someone on the march and a member of Mumia Abu-Jamal's legal team. But first, this is a prison radio commentary that he recorded in August titled Mumia's Vision: A Message for the Movement.

Mumia Abu-Jamal: I have been reluctant to talk about my eye problems. The reasons may have eluded some, but I explained that, you know, in the context of being in prison, any sign of weakness is to be avoided at all costs. These are, unlike many other institutions in society, heavily male. And therefore gender conscious in a way that society is not. Weakness brings predation. So I kept it quiet. And I kept it quiet simply because I wrongly believed that once I got examined and once it was clear that this was A real visual contextual problem, that I would get a rather quick response. Boy, was I wrong. I was, as the saying goes, as wrong as two left feet. What I got was evaluation after evaluation after evaluation. And? After evaluation, literally, it was only when I went outside and those prior evaluations were repeated by a noted ophthalmologist that the ball began to roll. And even then, the ball rolled exceedingly slowly. I have been, for all intents and purposes, unable to read, unable to write, unable to see anything more than the masthead of a newspaper, and not even its headlines. Blurry television, bursts of color. The television is my radio now.

Amy Goodman: Mumia Abu-Jamal, speaking from prison, SCI, State Correctional Institution Mahanoy, in Pennsylvania. For more, we're joined by Larry Hamm, chair of the People's Organization for Progress, one of the elders on the march for Mumia. He is in Frackville, Pennsylvania, where the prison is. And here in New York, one of Mumia's lawyers, Noel Hanrahan. Founder and producer of Prison Radio, which has been recording and distributing Mumia's commentaries from prison since 1992. Larry, let's begin with you. You're on this More Than 100 march that's ending today. Why did you march? What are you calling for?

Larry Hamm: Good morning, Amy. Good morning, Juan. Good morning, Noel. We are marching to free Mumia and free all political prisoners. We are marching. To draw attention to Mumia's medical problems, but more importantly, to demand that he get the surgery and medical treatment he needs. We are marching for humane treatment for all prisoners, especially our elders. I'm a witness to the fact that we have an aging prison population.

Juan González: Right.

Larry Hamm: And like Mumia, many of them are not getting the medical care they need. So we're marching today to demand freedom for Mumia and all political prisoners and to demand that Mumia get the urgent surgery and medical treatment he needs.

Juan González: And, Noel, I'd like to ask you, in terms of his battle for healthcare, Mumia's battle for healthcare, why has it been so difficult for him to —to get that healthcare.

Noel Hanrahan: —healthcare in this country. And in particular for prisoners, there are contracts by Wellpath that specifically state that they limit ophthalmological care in prison to onsite monitoring. They do not send people routinely out for specialist care. We had to fight— the Abolitionist Law Center, the lawyers and the movement had to come together to demand that Mumia get care, just for post-cataract surgery. When we got the specialists to look at Mumia, They discovered 2 other conditions that could mean that he loses his eyesight permanently if he is not treated. He has not been treated for these conditions since June.

Amy Goodman: So, what are you demanding right now?

Noel Hanrahan: That Mumia get specialist care for his glaucoma and his diabetic retinopathy and that he is given the treatment that he deserves. But we're not just calling for Mumia, because there are many inmates— they know who's blind in prison. They are refusing care.

Amy Goodman: Why is ophthalmological care particularly limited?

Noel Hanrahan: I don't know if it's particularly limited. It's the one we've researched right now. I believe that they likely limit all care that might cost them money. Like our lawsuit for hep C care in 2017 that won care, the first preliminary injunction for hep C care, they did not treat Mumia with a fast-acting cure And, Noel, Philadelphia has a supposedly progressive DA, District Attorney Krasner, who—

Juan González: his own office found forgotten files on Mumia that showed bias in his trial. Why has there been no movement by the DA to reopen this case?

Noel Hanrahan: I think the DA has been pressured to end the case, because he's OK. —actively litigate this case, by being impeached by the Pennsylvania Senate, also by being called up in a special— there was a King's Bench petition that deposed Larry, that asked him specifically if he was going to prosecute Mumia. There are pressures. Mumia is the third rail in Philadelphia. He is, like everyone else in prison, the 5,000 people that are serving life without possibility of parole just in Pennsylvania. He's one of a class of many. And Krasner? He will do the right thing. He is elected by the people. He's elected by the abolitionist ecosystem. We have an obligation to make it impossible for him to not support us. But there's pressure.

Amy Goodman: And on what grounds are you asking for his case to be reopened now?

Noel Hanrahan: There are 3 ways that any lifer can get out. It would be a post-conviction relief application, which we are developing, that he doesn't have one in court right now. His last one was denied in March by a lower court that did not fairly review his case. He can also go through the Pardon Board, which is a 5-member panel, and also the governor— 6 have to be unanimous— or compassionate release, which is extremely limited.

Amy Goodman: Finally, if you can comment, Larry Hamm, on what you're doing today in front of the prison in Frackville, Pennsylvania, what this more than 100-mile march has meant for you? You're about the same age as Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Larry Hamm: I am exactly the same age as Mumia, and our birthdays are in the same month. Yesterday, we reached the 100-mile mark, and today we will march the last 3 miles to Mahanoy Prison, where Mumia is incarcerated. We will have a press conference and a rally there to once again make the call for Mumia to get the medical care that he needs, and for all prisoners, especially our It's relief from the inside out.

Noel Hanrahan: This was built by prisoners. It was built by prisoners' families, the Abolitionist Law Center, Salim Holbrook, Brett Grody, the lead attorney. We are going to win and create the world that we deserve.

Amy Goodman: Noel Hanrahan is one of Mumia Abu-Jamal's attorneys and founder and producer of Prison Radio. Larry Hamm is chair of the People's Organization for Progress on the March for Mumia, speaking to us from Frackville, Pennsylvania, where he is imprisoned. I'm Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

Mumia Abu-Jamal: I'm a Democrat.

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