Monday, March 30, 2015

USA: Our Brother in Danger ! Free Mumia Abu Jamal !

 
Dear friend, 

We all called, so SCI Mahanoy shut down their phones. 

Now please call these numbers to demand that Mumia's family can see him at Schuylkill Medical Center immediately.


 


Call these numbers now to demand hospital visitation rights for Mumia's family:



Richard Ellers

Director, PA Department of Corrections Health Care Services
rellers@pa.gov 

(717) 728-5311(717) 728-5311 

John Wetzel
Secretary, PA Department of Corrections

(717) 728-4109(717) 728-4109

 

Schuylkill Medical Center
420 S Jackson St, Pottsville, PA 

(570) 621-5000(570) 621-5000


SCI Mahanoy
Superindendent John Kerestes

(570) 773-2158(570) 773-2158

 
 
 
 
 
Renowned Black revolutionary Mumia Abu-Jamal has been hospitalised, and is being held captive in intensive care at the Schuykill Medical Centre, Pottsville, Pa.

Sources from the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal (ICFFMAJ) report that Mumia is being held in the ICU incommunicado, and that his wife has not been allowed to contact him. He is reportedly on an insulin drip.

Call SCI Mahoney Superintendent John Kerestes (570-773-2158570-773-2158) and DEMAND that Mumia Abu-Jamal’s family be able to see him.

FIRE TO THE PRISONS and

FREEDOM TO THE PRISONERS!

FREE MUMIA, FREE THEM ALL!



SOURCE: SERVE THE PEOPLE PHILADELPHIA


Dear Brothers and Sisters:

Heidi Elizabeth Boghosian and I travelled to Frackville, PA to visit Mumia today because we knew that he was not well. When we arrived we were told that he was hospitalized. We did a little reconnaissance and were able to get into the unit where he is being held, but were not let in to see him to see him.

We were within 10 feet, spoke to his nurses, and delivered a note saying that we are here. Unclear that he will get it. Four uniformed guards are outside his room. Mumia has been sick for months. He landed in the hospital because he did not get the proper care. We were just asked to vacate the building. It's time to mobilize to defend Mumia's life.

Please call the medical center at 570-773-2158 and the Superintendent at SCI Mahanoy, John Kerestes 570-773--2158 x 18102

I travelled to Frackville, PA to visit Mumia today because we knew that he was not well. When we arrived we were told that he was hospitalized. We did a little reconnaissance and were able to get into the unit where he is being held, but were not let in to see him to see him.

We were within 10 feet, spoke to his nurses, and delivered a note saying that we are here. Unclear that he will get it. Four uniformed guards are outside his room. Mumia has been sick for months. He landed in the hospital because he did not get the proper care.

We were just asked to vacate the building. It's time to mobilize to defend Mumia's life.

Please call the medical center at 570-773-2158 and the Superintendent at SCI Mahanoy, John Kerestes 570-773--2158 x 18102.

Thank You,

 The Campaign To Bring Mumia Home

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 

For Immediate Release: March 30, 2015 
Attn: News Desk


Prisoners and Advocacy Groups Win Right to a Trial
On Constitutionality of the Silencing Act (PA SB508) 

This morning, Chief Judge for the federal court in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Christopher Conner, will hear the cases Abu-Jamal v. Kane and Prison Legal News v. Kane in a trial that willl determine the constitutionality of PA SB508 "the Silencing Act".  Defendant PA Attorney General Kane will be hard pressed to argue the constitutionality of the Silencing Act, a censorship law targeted at Mumia Abu-Jamal and other currently and formerly incarcerated people.

Defendant Seth Williams was dismissed from the case based on his explicit disavowal of enforcing the act until a court of competent jurisdiction rules on the constitutionality of the statute. His dismissal does not hinder Plaintiffs ability to obtain the relief of invalidating this law, as a favorable ruling on the First Amendment issue against Defendant Kane will achieve the same result. Williams' disavowal of enforcement is a far cry from his political grandstanding in support of this bill's passage in the fall.

The judge has ordered that this trial will include Plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction merged with a trial on the merits, meaning that if we win we will be granted a permanent injunction against the statute, and the statue will be invalidated.

“Silencing prisoners is one more way of dehumanizing them,” said Amistad Law Project Policy Director Nikki Grant. “We need the voices of the marginalized to shed light on injustice.”

The trial is set for this morning March 30 in Harrisburg, PA approximately 5 months since former Governor Corbett signed this ill-fated bill into law.

 The Abolitionist Law Center, Amistad Law Project, and the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center at Northwestern University School of Law filed the lawsuit on Nov. 10th to stop enforcement of the law. The law firms represent Mumia Abu-Jamal, Prison Radio, Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal, Kerry “Shakaboona” Marshall, Robert L. Holbrook, Donnell Palmer, Anthony Chance, and Human Rights Coalition.

The Silencing Act, also known as 18 P.S. § 11.1304, allows the Attorney General, county District Attorneys, and victims of personal injury crimes to bring a lawsuit in civil court against the person convicted of the personal injury crime to enjoin conduct that “perpetuates the continuing effect of the crime on the victim”. The actions that could prompt a lawsuit include “conduct which causes a temporary or permanent state of mental anguish.”

“This law is unconstitutional,” said David Shapiro of MacArthur Justice Center. “The facts are on our side and the law is on our side. The Silencing Act targets a huge amount of constitutionally protected speech based on who is speaking.”

After a prerecorded commencement speech by journalist and prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal was played for graduates at Goddard College in Vermont, the Pennsylvania legislature passed and outgoing Governor Corbett signed into law the Silencing Act on October 21st, 16 days after the commencement speech.

Abu-Jamal has spent 33 years in prison, 29 of which were in solitary confinement on death row after being convicted at a 1982 trial that Amnesty International said “failed to meet minimum international standards safeguarding the fairness of legal proceedings.”

Robert L. Holbrook, who is serving a death by incarceration, life without parole, sentence he received as a child, had this to say about the law: “there are people in prison who will stop writing, stop publishing, stop speaking out because of this law.”

Bret Grote       bretgrote@abolitionistlawcenter.org    412-654-9070
Ashley Henderson ashley@amistadlaw.org          215-310-0424
Noelle Hanrahan info@prisonradio.org         415-706-5222
David Shapiro david.shapiro@law.northwestern.edu        312-503-0711

Amistad Law Project is a West Philadelphia-based public interest law center.
Our mission is to fight for the human rights of all people by providing
legal services to people incarcerated in Pennsylvania’s prisons.
www.amistadlaw.org | @amistadlaw | 267-225-5884

The Abolitionist Law Center is a public interest law firm inspired by the struggle of political and politicized prisoners, and organized for the purpose of abolishing class and race based mass incarceration in the United States.   412-654-9070

Prison Radio has recorded Mumia and other political prisoners for over 25 years, and we are pulling out all the stops to keep these voices on the air.   415-706-5222415-706-5222

Please donate today to amplify prisoners' voices far and wide beyond the bars:
     Support Prison Radio: prisonradio.org/donate
     Defeat SB 508: bit.ly/defendfreespeech
 
                                    
 
 
 

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