The Campaign To Bring Mumia Home
Tues, Sept 8, 2015
AN URGENT MESSAGE:
Competent Medical Care, Not Transfer
Administer the Hepatitis C cure to Mumia & the 10,000 PA Prisoners with the disease, NOW!
At the urging of Pam Africa, I visited Mumia yesterday, Sunday, September 6. Pam got word from inside that Mumia’s cell had been raided by prison authorities.
As you know, after a series of hospitalizations in March and April 2015, Mumia has remained in the prison infirmary. During this time, most of his property has remained in his old cell. According to Mumia, on Friday, September 4, officers rushed him out of his regularly-scheduled medical bath to inform him that all the belongings in his cell had been packed up and placed in storage. The handling of prison property in the absence of a prisoner is a violation of prison procedures. After signing the forms required when prisoner property is placed in storage, Mumia asked if he was about to be moved to a different facility, since the boxing up of a prisoner’s property usually precedes a transfer. An officer assured him that he would not be transferred; but this all seemed really strange to Mumia.
These developments follow the immediate aftermath of a medical lawsuit filed by Mumia charging the DOC with medical neglect. Coming at this moment, a prison transfer would not be in Mumia’s best interest as it would disrupt contact with his attorneys and isolate him from his family and supporters. In addition, a move would put Mumia’s at risk; it would further compromise his physical and mental health and interrupt his medical care. The only transfer acceptable would be safe transit to a professional facility that would guarantee the medical attention he needs for a cure of his “active” Hepatitis C condition, for which there is a cure.
As you know, Mumia has been in an acute health crisis for over 9 months, since January 2015. In March 2015, prison infirmary physicians allowed Mumia to fall into diabetic shock and come close to death.
Please urge the PA Department of Corrections (DOC) to act in Mumia’s best interests and refrain from transferring him. Please also urge the DOC to give Mumia, and the 10,000 PA Prisoners with Hepatitis C, the cure he needs.
Recently, Mumia has lost approximately 25lbs in two months. Although his spirits are high and his cognitive abilities have improved, he still sleeps all day and is suffering extreme lethargy, a bi-product of untreated, “active” Hepatitis C, a liver disease. The skin around his face is clearer than before and although his leg wounds have closed, they have left crater-like scars, which can erupt at any moment. The skin throughout his body remains jet-black, raw, extremely wrinkled, and rough, like elephant hide. Nails on his hands and feet are falling off and the palms of his hands are blackened. These conditions are also symptoms of his untreated, “active” Hepatitis C.
The denial of the Hepatitis C cure to Mumia –while his medical condition remains precarious and while his disfiguring skin condition continues to cause him unthinkable suffering –is cruel and unusual punishment, and torture through medical neglect.
Demand the Hepatitis C cure for Mumia
and for the 10,000 PA Prisoners with the disease, NOW!
John Wetzel, Secretary of Corrections,
Pennsylvania Phone: (717) 728-2573
John Kerestes, Superintendent, SCI-Mahanoy prison:
Phone: (570) 773-2158
love and solidarity,
Johanna Fernandez
for Pam Africa and the Movement to Free Mumia & the Campaign to Bring Mumia Home
http://www.freemumia.com/2015/09/urgent-911-report-to-the-movement-on-mumia/
![Charleston, South Carolina September 5, 2015 [Photo: WI BOPM]](https://wibailoutpeople.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/068.jpg)
![Protesters demanding an end to right-to-work-for-less legislation and other austerity in Madison Feb. 28, 2015 [Photo: Joe Brusky]](https://wibailoutpeople.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/feb-_28_madison_working_class_banner.jpg)
