On the morning of Monday March 30th, prison officials at SCI Mahanoy say that Mumia Abu-Jamal had a "medical crisis" and was transported from the prison to the intensive care unit at the Schuylkill Medical Center, in Pottsville. PA. Shackled to the bed, alone, and prevented from knowing that his family is close by he remains in intensive care. Prison officials and hospital officials when not spreading misinformation are denying Mumia's family access to visits, while also denying the family and his lawyers any information or records about his condition. Mumia's family is keeping vigil in the ICU critical care visiting room. His supporters and lawyers were at trial challenging the Revictimization Review Act aka the "Mumia Silencing Act" in Harrisburg, PA when they received word that he had been taken to the hospital.
The Abolitionist Law Center's Bret Grote is in Pottsville and vigorously preparing legal action to gain access to his client for the family and access to his medical records so that independent doctors can intervene. Mumia Abu-Jamal’s brother Keith Cook stated “The rules that the prisons have are very arcane. They don’t give out any information about prisoners to their families or anyone else. It’s like you have your hands tied because you don’t know how the prisoner is and you have no way of talking to him. I remember a month ago— Phil Africa exercising in the prison, next thing they know they moved him to a hospital and didn’t tell his family where he was, and three days later he was dead. "It’s scary. This situation needs to change. The prison authorities need to be more humane to the families of prisoners.”
Pam Africa stated "Prison Officials are lying. Mumia is going through torture at the hands of 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."
Johanna Fernandez of the New York Campaign to Bring Mumia Home noted “Mumia has been complaining about being ill since January. If he had gotten the proper care he needed originally, he would not be in this situation. This crisis illustrates the problem of health care in American prisons as a basic human rights violation. I am personally concerned because Phil Africa of the MOVE organization was rushed to the hospital not long ago in good health and a few days later he was dead. We need to fight to defend Mumia’s life, and that of all prisoners.”
