Gravely ailing Abu-Jamal shown with Wadiya Jamal
Calls For Independent Medical Attention For Mumia By: Cornell West, Charles Barron, Bill Perkins And Others
What: Press Conference with Dr. Cornel West and others re: Mumia Abu-Jamal Health Crisis
When: Thursday, May 7 at 9:30 am
Where: Madiba Restaurant, 46 West 116th St. (between Fifth Ave. & Malcolm X Blvd.)
Contact: Dr. Suzanne Ross (917) 584-2135
National and International Call for Medical Intervention for Political Prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal: Diagnosis and Immediate Treatment by Outside Physicians
The need for independent medical diagnosis and treatment for renowned political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal is urgent. An open letter was delivered on April 29 to Pennsylvania Governor Thomas Wolf and Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel in Harrisburg documenting the medical neglect and malpractice that has characterized Abu-Jamal’s treatment.
Over a period of four months, Abu-Jamal’s initial skin problem, diagnosed by the prison doctors as eczema, deteriorated drastically, and his health condition became life threatening from undiagnosed diabetes as he went into diabetic shock in the prison. This open letter was signed by, among many others, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Minister Louis Farrakhan, former president of the UN General Assembly Father Miguel d’Escoto, former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Danny Glover, and Alice Walker.
Participants in the press conference will reiterate the call to Governor Wolf and Secretary Wetzel to immediately allow outside doctors of Abu-Jamal’s choosing to conduct the proper diagnosis and treatment to save his life. Supporters of Abu-Jamal note that the horrific medical care he has received at SCI Mahanoy with serious consequences is by no means unique to him. They call for an independent investigation of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections medical system.
They note that this investigation must focus in particular on profit-making organizations hired by the Department of Corrections that place priority on cost cutting rather than the quality of care provided to prisoners. Fewer referrals to hospitals are made, and deaths increase. Finally, given the extensive evidence of Abu-Jamal’s innocence, long prevented from being addressed fairly in the courts, and now the evidence that his very life is in danger while in the prison system, the letter calls for Abu-Jamal’s immediate release from prison.
SPEAKERS:
Pam Africa, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, MOVE
Charles Barron, State Assemblyman, East New York
Noelle Hanrahan, Executive Director, Prison Radio
Joseph Harris, MD, MD’s for Mumia
Larry Holmes, People’s Power Assembly
Jamal Joseph, Professor of Film , Columbia University
Bill Perkins, State Senator, Harlem, NY
Juliette Seydi, Assistant for International Affairs for Mayor of Saint-Denis, Didier Paillard, Comite Mumia Saint-Denis
Estela Vasquez, Executive Vice President, Local 1199
Cornel West, Professor, Union Theological Seminary, Professor Emeritus, Princeton University
