(click on the image below for a full-size view of our article on the front page of the SFBV Newspaper, with a photo by Joe Piette of the new mural across from City Hall, featuring Ramona and Pam Africa alongside other Black women community leaders from Philadelphia.)
Watch the April 15 press conference here.
As reported by WHYY and the Philadelphia Tribune, during the March 3 press conference at DA Krasner's office, supporters received a call confirming that Mumia Abu-Jamal has now tested positive for COVID (watch the full video from the March 3 event here or embedded above). Read the entire March 2 press release, which announced the 11am, Wednesday Feb. 3 press conference at DA Krasner's office.
(PHOTO: Johanna Fernandez of the Campaign to Bring Mumia Home speaks outside of DA Krasner's office on March 3, 2021. Photo by Jamal Journal staff photographer Joe Piette --view more photos here.)
--Listen to Pam Africa on Black Agenda Radio: Mumia says he has Covid. "His breathing feels like an elephant sitting on his lungs.” II Read the Philadelphia Inquirer article II Dave Lindorff article, "Urgent news: Demand the immediate release of imprisoned activist journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal"
URGENT! Please call these 4 phone numbers now:
SCI Mahanoy Prison:
(570) 773-2158
PA DOC Secretary, John Wetzel:
(717) 728-2573
Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner:
(267) 456-1000; @DA_LarryKrasner
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf:
(717) 787 2500
Script:
My name is _____ and I demand:
1. The immediate and unconditional release of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has congestive heart failure, COVID-19, liver cirrhosis, and a worsening of the severe debilitating chronic skin condition.
2. The immediate release of all political prisoners.
3. The immediate release of all elders, aging prisoners over the age of 50, people who have contracted COVID, and all others who are especially vulnerable to death through COVID-19.
Write Mumia a personal note:
Smart Communications/PADOC
Mumia Abu-Jamal AM 8335
SCI Mahanoy
PO Box 33028
St Petersburg, FL 33733
Alert released March 9 by Prison Radio:
Let me be clear.
This is a life and death situation and we need to mobilize immediately.
Congestive heart failure. Unrelenting skin eruptions are causing damaged, ruptured, leathery, dry, exposed wounds. Not one spot on his body is free of dry cracked and bloody open wounds. No longer in an outside hospital, Mumia is back in the prison infirmary in excruciating discomfort and pain.
The message from his personal physician, Dr. Ricardo Alvarez, could not be clearer, “Freedom is the only treatment.”
Mumia requires: Treatment - Diagnosis – Liberation
We must not wait one moment, one day, one heartbeat. We must ACT NOW to treat these conditions:
Congestive Heart Failure
Covid-19 breathing difficulties
Organ failure of the skin
Mumia is being denied diagnosis and adequate treatment for his skin condition. He is held in isolation in the prison infirmary without healing salves and ointments that he had in his cell. He is also denied regular access to a phone or access to his tablet which provides the connection to his email. This communication is a vital lifeline.
Make no mistake, phone calls do work - last week your phone calls meant that he was whisked to the hospital for four days. He was diagnosed and treated for congestive heart failure and they removed excess fluid in his body. Those treatments must continue to be carefully monitored.
He is now in the infirmary at SCI Mahanoy: the same infirmary where he suffered medical neglect in 2014 that sent him into renal failure. That year his medical care required careful blood sugar monitoring and when he did not receive that, he went into a diabetic coma. Abu-Jamal vs. Wetzel, a lawsuit over those conditions, is still pending.
The Fraternal Order of Police has stated that it intends for Mumia to die alone, inside this prison. We say no.
CALL TO ACTION: Call, write, tweet, post and fax to demand “freedom, treatment, diagnosis, and access to his lawyers, doctors, and family for Mumia Abu-Jamal at SCI Mahanoy.”
PADOC
Phone number: 717-728-2573
Contact form: https://expressforms.pa.gov/apps/pa/cor/contact-us
Email address: ra-contactdoc@pa.gov,
Twitter page: @CorrectionsPA
Facebook page: @CorrectionsPA
John Wetzel, Secretary of Corrections - name Mumia Abu-Jamal and SCI Mahanoy in subject line
Phone number: 717-728-4109
Email address: ra-crofficeofrds@pa.gov or ra-crpadocsecretary@pa.gov,
Twitter page: @johnewetzel, @DOCSecretary
Tom Wolf, Governor
Phone number: 717-787-2500, pick option #3 for operator
Fax: 717-772-8284
Online form: https://www.governor.pa.gov/contact/
Write:
Office of the Governor
508 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120
Twitter page: @GovernorTomWolf, @GovernorsOffice
Facebook page: @governorwolf, @TomWolfPA
Instagram page: @governortomwolf
Larry Krasner, District Attorney
Phone number: 215-686-8000, leave a message
Email: justice@phila.gov, DA_East@phila.gov, DA_Central@phila.gov, DA_Northwest@phila.gov, DA_South@phila.gov, DA_Southwest@phila.gov, DA_Northeast@phila.gov
Write:
Main Office
Three South Penn Square
Corner of Juniper and South Penn Square
Philadelphia, PA 19107-3499
Twitter page: @philadao
Facebook page: @philadao
Reach Philadelphia DA Krasner as he speaks at events - demand that he drop the case and free Mumia at once:
April 20 Author event at 6:30 p.m. CDT, free to register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/larry-krasner-for-the-people-a-story-of-justice-and-power-tickets-142138954439
Vincent Hughes, State Senator
Phone: 215-879-7777 (District Office), 717-787-7112 (Harrisburg Office)
Fax: 215-879-7778 (District Office), 717-772-0579 (Harrisburg Office)
Write:
2401 North 54th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19131
(District Office)
545 Capitol Building
Senate Box 203007
Harrisburg, PA 17120-3007
(Harrisburg Office)
Online form: https://www.senatorhughes.com/contact/
Email: hughes@pasenate.com
Twitter page: @SenHughesOffice, @SenatorHughes
Facebook page: @vincent.hughes.7
Instagram page: @senhughesoffice
Cindy Bass, City Council of Philadelphia
Phone number: 215-686-3424
Fax: 215-686-1937
Online form: https://phlcouncil.com/cindybass/, contact field at the bottom
Twitter page: @cindybassphilly
Facebook page: @cindybassphilly
Instagram page: @cindybassphilly
Bernadette Mason, SCI Mahanoy Superintendent
Phone number: 570-773-2158
https://www.cor.pa.gov/Facilities/StatePrisons/Pages/Mahanoy.aspx
Office of Criminal Justice
Rachael Eisenberg
Director of Policy and Planning- Office of Criminal Justice at City of Philadelphia
Email: rachael.eisenberg@phila.gov (Director) or call (215) 686-9027
https://www.phila.gov/departments/office-of-criminal-justice/
Hashtags
#FreeMumia
#COVID19
#FreeAgingPeopleFromPrison
#FreeTheVulnerable
#FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners
#TreatmentisFreedom
#BlackLivesMatter
#FreeThemAll
(Recent photo of Mumia being held in the SCI Mahanoy infirmary)
Write our brother:
(Though Mumia is incarcerated at SCI Mahanoy in Pennsylvania, all mail must be sent to the aforementioned physical address for electronic scanning. Keep in mind he only receives copies, no original mail.)
Smart Communications/PADOC
Mumia Abu-Jamal AM 8335
SCI Mahanoy
PO Box 33028
St Petersburg, FL 33733
Follow these and your local Mumia Abu-Jamal organization for updates and calls to action
Prison Radio
International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Campaign to Bring Mumia Home
Alert released March 3, 2021 by Prison Radio:
On Saturday Mumia Abu-Jamal was hospitalized. When he put in a sick call slip and was seen by the SCI Mahanoy medical staff he was taken immediately to the hospital suffering chest pain and shortness of breath. Diagnosed with congestive heart failure he was given a battery of tests. It is unclear how long Mumia was hospitalized, but by Wednesday he was in isolation in the prison's infirmary. This diagnosis of a weakened heart requires careful monitoring and treatment.
At the hospital his seriology blood test was positive for Covid-19. This followed three negative, or false negative COVID-19, tests and a negative antigen test administered recently by the medical staff at SCI Mahanoy.
After initial treatment for fluid build up in his body, he was discharged from the local private hospital and put in isolation in the prison infirmary. On Wednesday he was able to reach his supporters who were gathering in Philadelphia at 3 Penn Sq. outside the DA's office, demanding that he receive appropriate medical attention. He expressed his gratitude for the world wide support and attention to his and other elders with life threatening conditions in prison.
We must remember that the prison infirmary at SCI Mahanoy is the very same place that in 2014 diagnosed Mumia as having critically low blood sugar, ie a diabetic episode or reaction to a topical steroid he was taking for a raging skin condition. The infirmary then ignored the notation in his chart to monitor his blood sugar levels for three weeks. It was not until he fainted and went into renal failure that he was rushed to the hospital. His lawsuit in that case Abu-Jamal v. Wetzel is still pending. It took a federal civil rights lawsuit, the order of a preliminary injunction, and world wide protests for Mumia to receive the fast acting anti viral cure to his belatedly diagnosed Hepatitis C.
The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has repeatedly failed to provide adequate care for our family members.
We. the people, must toss aside our fears. It is not the time to hesitate and we cannot give into despair. Decarceration is not a dream; it is a necessity.
We need to take action now!
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