By BEN FORTEN April 24 marks Mumia Abu-Jamal’s 60th birthday. Mumia’s supporters, who are engaged in new efforts to re-open his case and win his freedom, will celebrate his birthday with events on April 24 and April 26 in Philadelphia, and on May 4 in Oakland, Calif. “Although it is Mumia’s birthday, we’re celebrating the … Continue reading Happy birthday, Mumia Abu-Jamal!
Category: Prisons
‘One Nation Under Surveillance’
By ERNIE GOTTA “I ask you, how many times does Barack Obama have to lie to you before you get it?” journalist and author Chris Hedges asked the crowd of over 200 gathered in Torpe Theater at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) on March 29. Hedges was the keynote speaker at the 2nd annual civil … Continue reading ‘One Nation Under Surveillance’
Lynne Stewart — Free!
By MUMIA ABU-JAMAL By the time you hear this, Lynne Stewart, New York’s people’s lawyer, will be home, sleeping in her own bed, in the company of her beloved husband, Ralph Poynter, and their children and grandchildren. It has been a long and tortured hole from judge to judge, from bias to hatred, with no … Continue reading Lynne Stewart — Free!
Victory! Lynne Stewart is free!
By JEFF MACKLER Jeff Mackler is the West Coast coordinator of the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee. Lynne Stewart is free! With almost 100 family and supporters chanting, “We love you, Lynne,” she rose from a wheelchair and bravely walked forward for a half-hour rally at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. She landed at 1:10 p.m. on … Continue reading Victory! Lynne Stewart is free!
Michael Saffioti: Death in a county jail
By ANN MONTAGUE We often hear about abuse, brutality, mistreatment, and cover-ups in state and federal prisons, but county jails are seen as being more benign. County jails, after all, are either where people are being held while waiting for trial or where they have been given a short sentence for a misdemeanor. Last year, … Continue reading Michael Saffioti: Death in a county jail
Long live Lynne! (A birthday message)
By MUMIA ABU-JAMAL When Oct. 8 rolls around, people’s attorney Lynne Stewart will have reached her 74th year of life. That she reaches it behind bars in one of the most backward states of the Union (Texas) is a mark of both her extraordinary work as a lawyer, and of the weakness of our Movements. For Lynne … Continue reading Long live Lynne! (A birthday message)
Salute to Herman Wallace & Angola 3
By JEFF MACKLER Herman Wallace, a murder frame-up victim, spent 41 of his 73 years in solidarity confinement at the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. He was released from prison just three days before his death from liver cancer, Oct. 4 in New Orleans. The prison warden had initially defied a federal court order … Continue reading Salute to Herman Wallace & Angola 3
California prisoners on hunger strike
By CLAY WADENA — OAKLAND, Calif. — An unprecedented protest against the deplorable conditions in California’s prisons has erupted from within the prison walls, as an initial 30,000 inmates went on hunger strike on July 8 for basic human rights such as ending indefinite solitary confinement. Estimates place this protest at three times the size … Continue reading California prisoners on hunger strike
Lynne Stewart denied compassionate release
BY JEFF MACKLER When I visited Lynne Stewart last month at FMC Cars-well in Fort Worth, Texas, she wondered in a dark moment whether the cynicism of the Justice Department and the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) might descend to such depths as to deny her the then expected compassionate release. It crossed her mind that … Continue reading Lynne Stewart denied compassionate release
The state power is killing Lynne Stewart
BY JEFF MACKLER Demand Compassionate Release Now! I returned last week from a Memorial Day weekend visit with my dear friend of some 50 years, the innocent political prisoner and victim of trumped-up charges of conspiracy to aid and abet terrorism, Lynne Stewart. Lynne, 73, is incarcerated at the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, … Continue reading The state power is killing Lynne Stewart
Demand compassionate release for Lynne!
By JEFF MACKLER Civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart, who spent over 30 years defending the poor and oppressed, is confined to a prison cell at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell at Fort Worth, Texas. She has served three years of a 10-year sentence on frame-up charges concerning help she gave to her client, the blind … Continue reading Demand compassionate release for Lynne!
Prison hinders Lynne Stewart’s cancer care
BY JEFF MACKLER (UPDATED with a new letter from Lynne.) More than two years ago radical attorney and human rights activist Lynne Stewart, now serving the third year of a 10-year prison sentence based on frame-up charges of conspiracy to aid and abet terrorism, was given a clean bill of health following surgery for breast … Continue reading Prison hinders Lynne Stewart’s cancer care
Court denies re-hearing for Lynne Stewart
BY JEFF MACKLER On Sept. 24, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected Lynne Stewart’s appeal for a re-hearing before the entire court. Her original conviction was upheld in 2009 by a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit. The court’s opinion was not unexpected. This was the same court that earlier pressed Federal … Continue reading Court denies re-hearing for Lynne Stewart
Prison sanctions Lynne Stewart for 45 days
By JEFF MACKLEROn Aug. 1, imprisoned radical attorney Lynne Stewart, who is serving a 10-year sentence at a federal medical prison in Carswell, Texas, on frame-up charges of conspiracy to aid and abet terrorism, was sanctioned by prison authorities for 45 days.Stewart’s offense? On behalf of a fellow inmate, Stewart mailed a copy of letter … Continue reading Prison sanctions Lynne Stewart for 45 days
Interview With Mumia: Fighting the Empire
by Rafael Rodriguez Cruz / July 2006 issue of Socialist Action newspaper Attorney Rafael Rodriguez Cruz did the following interview during a visit with political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal on death row at the State Correctional Institution at Waynesburg, Pa., and in later correspondence with Mumia in late May 2006. Mumia was charged with the murder … Continue reading Interview With Mumia: Fighting the Empire
Court Confirms Ten-Year Sentence for Lynne Stewart
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit today confirmed the 2010 decision of Federal District Court Judge John Koeltl to change his 28-month jail sentence for radical attorney and human rights activist, Lynne Stewart, to ten years. The court’s June 28, 2012 decision was not unexpected. Following federal prosecutors’ appeal of what was … Continue reading Court Confirms Ten-Year Sentence for Lynne Stewart
Kevin Cooper: A ‘Scapegoat’ on Death Row
<!--[if !mso]> <![endif]-->Investigative journalist Patrick O’Connor has written a new book, “Scapegoat: The Chino Hills Murders and the Framing of Kevin Cooper.” Below is the talk that O’Connor gave on a recent Northern California speaking tour.“Scapegoat” is a book about a horrific murder case, painfully recounted. It is also about how justice can go astray. … Continue reading Kevin Cooper: A ‘Scapegoat’ on Death Row
Mumia freed from solitary
It took a petition with 5000 signatures, gathered in a few days, to the Philadelphia District Attorney and prison officials to compel the warden at SCI Mahanoy to release Mumia Abu-Jamal from his “worse than death row” solidarity-confinement “hole.” The excuse? Mumia refused to cut off his dreadlocks! While on death row at SCI Greene, … Continue reading Mumia freed from solitary
A Visit with Mumia Abu-Jamal
Comrades, Brothers and Sisters: Heidi Boghosian [executive director, National Lawyers Guild] and I [Johanna Fernandez, Educators for Mumia] just returned from a very moving visit with Mumia. We visited yesterday, Thursday, Feb. 2. This was Mumia’s second contact visit in over 30 years, since his transfer to General Population last Friday, Jan. 27. His first contact visit was … Continue reading A Visit with Mumia Abu-Jamal
Bay Area forums to hear author of book on Kevin Cooper
A coalition of social justice activists in the San Francisco Bay Area has organized a Feb. 5-12 book tour for J. Patrick O’Connor, the author of “Scapegoat: The Chino Hills Murders and the framing of Kevin Cooper.” O’Connor’s new book provides a detailed analysis of Cooper’s case and exposes the broken criminal “justice” system in … Continue reading Bay Area forums to hear author of book on Kevin Cooper
Letter from Lynne Stewart
An appeal of Lynne Stewart’s lengthened sentence is set for 8 a.m., Feb. 29, at the federal courthouse at New York’s Foley Square. There will be an all-night rally for Lynne in the square, starting at 7 p.m. Information: (917) 853-9759. After the disaster in July 2010, when Judge Koeltl, following the directives of the … Continue reading Letter from Lynne Stewart
Act Now to Get Mumia Out of Solitary Confinement!
Mumia Abu-Jamal is being held in Administrative Custody (“The Hole” or Solitary Confinement) at SCI Mahanoy, Frackville, PA. Mumia’s death sentence has been dropped, and though he is supposed to be in General Population, he has been held in Solitary Confinement – shackled whenever he’s out side his cell (even to the shower), glaring lights … Continue reading Act Now to Get Mumia Out of Solitary Confinement!
Obama signs bill allowing indefinite detention of U.S. policy opponents
The kind of repression that can be expected to increase exponentially as a result of the new indefinite-detention rider to the National Defense Authorization Act was illustrated just a week before Obama signed it on New Year’s Eve. On Dec. 20, a Boston jury convicted the pharmacist Dr. Tarek Mehanna of material support to terrorism … Continue reading Obama signs bill allowing indefinite detention of U.S. policy opponents
A visit with Mumia Abu-Jamal
by Johanna Fernandez is a professor at Baruch College, a member of Educators for Mumia, and producer of the film, “Justice on Trial: The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal.”Dear Friends:I visited Mumia yesterday, Dec. 15, in the new prison that houses him, SCI Mahanoy. Even though he has been released from death row, he remains in … Continue reading A visit with Mumia Abu-Jamal
Mumia’s Message to Occupy Wall Street
Mumia’s Message to Occupy Wall Street, as dictated while in Administrative Custody at SCI Mahanoy in Frackville, PA Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011My Friends of OWS,My message will have to be brief. But let not this brevity take from it, its strength.You are the central movement of the hour. You’re raising questions that are in the … Continue reading Mumia’s Message to Occupy Wall Street