Mumia wins court victory for prison medical care

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“It’s a Knock Out Punch,” says Mumia. “We did something that’s never been done before,” says Pam Africa, chair of Inter­ national Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

On Jan. 3, U.S. District Court Judge Rob­ ert Mariani granted the motion filed by in­ nocent political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal for a preliminary injunction ordering the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) to have Mumia examined by a pris­ on doctor within 14 days to determine one issue—whether the administration of the life-saving anti-viral Hepatits C medica­ tion, sofobuvir, would do harm to Mumia. This formality is then to be followed within seven days by the administration of the very medication that Mumia has been fighting for since he filed his first lawsuit demanding treatment in May 2015. The judge’s order affirmed that Mumia has Hepatitis C, a life-threatening liver dis­ ease, and needs immediate treatment. The denial of such treatment, wrote Mariani, represents a violation of Mumia’s rights un­ der the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amend­ ment prohibiting cruel and usual punish­ ment. The judge’s order overturned a lower court decision on the same matter. Judge Mariani’s rulings were the first in U.S. his­ tory in which a state’s medical protocols for prisoner treatment have been overruled. Mumia Abu-Jamal was represented joint­ ly by Bret Grote of the Abolitionist Law Center and independent attorney Robert Boyle. While the judge’s decision applies only to Mumia, Boyle noted that it is bound to effect the class-action lawsuits filed by the Abolitionist Law Center now in prog­ ress, wherein some 9000 other Pennsylva­ nia prisoners with Hepatitis C have sought the same relief.

Boyle added that the DOC has 30 days to appeal Judge Mariani’s decision. Should Mariani refuse to grant a DOC request for a stay of his order for the purpose of filing an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the DOC may then pro­ ceed directly to the Third Circuit. Boyle cautioned via a Jan. 4 conference call presentation to some 30 key national Mumia activists that while “the law is on our side,” and notwithstanding the ongoing and dangerous progression of Mumia’s ill­ ness, past history has demonstrated that, in Mumia’s case at least, the law is sometimes violated with impunity. This was a refer­ ence to the infamous “Mumia exception,” wherein U.S. courts for decades have rou­ tinely departed from standard legal princi­ ples and practices to thwart Mumia’s funda­ mental legal rights.

A mountain of evidence of Mumia’s inno­ cence on the charges of killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981 has been repeatedly excluded from the record by a racist criminal “justice” system in­ tent on punishing one of the nation’s most outspoken and courageous fighters for the rights of all humanity.

Indeed, Mumia’s first 1982 trial was pre­ sided over by the infamous “hanging” Judge Albert Sabo, who in his antechambers prior to entering the courtroom, in the presence of another judge and a court reporter, stated, “Yeah, and I’m going to help ’em fry the n****r.”

Nevertheless, optimistic as always, Mu­ mia recorded a statement of thanks to his supporters that declared Judge Mariani’s decision to be a “knock-out punch” won by all his supporters.

The DOC’s formal defense of its refusal to administer the life-saving medication to Mumia included the cruel and inhuman argument that should Mumia prevail, the total cost of his treatment along with the treatment of some 9000 other Pennsylvania prisoners with the same Hep C virus would be an estimated $800 million. Indeed, if the Third Circuit rules in Mumia’s favor, the “cost” could be even higher since the court’s jurisdiction includes New Jersey and Delaware as well as Pennsylvania. Mumia’s victory perhaps inadvertently ex­ posed one of the nation’s most corrupt and profitable industries, the pharmaceutical business. With regard to the 2013 discovery of sofobuvir, for example, the medicine that is estimated to have close to a 95 percent cure rate for Hep C patients, the wholesale acquisition cost to a hospital for the stan­ dard 12-week course of treatment for single patient is $84,000, while the estimated pro­ duction cost is $68 to $136.

If there ever was an example of a degener­ ate social system, that of the United States and its health-care institutions, who argue in court that $68 is too high a price to pay for a human life, would stand out in bold relief.

that Newark workers be subject to New Jersey laws. As it stands now, the raises for Newark Air­ port workers will lag considerably Nevertheless, Judge Mariani rejected Pennsylvania’s financial cost arguments. His decision also provided substantial rea­ sons why a possible DOC request for a stay of his order would be inappropriate, indi­ cating that Hep C prisoners are in a state of constant deterioration that requires prompt treatment as opposed to a steady medical state in which a delay would not impact their fundamental condition.

Attorney Robert Boyle, who successfully fought for and won the release of political prisoner Lynne Stewart three years ago, ex­ pressed concern that Mumia’s supporters continue their mobilizations aimed at win­ ning broad support for Mumia’s immediate treatment and for his freedom in future liti­ gation.

Boyle pointed to new legal avenues now open to Mumia to seek a new trial based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that challenged a death-penalty verdict based on the fact that a state district attorney partici­ pated in a prisoner’s prosecution and later, after being promoted to the position of state Supreme Court justice, sat in deliberations regarding the prisoner’s appeal. Ironically, this U.S. Supreme Court decision concerned Judge Ronald Castillo, who was both Mu­ mia’s prosecutor and later his judge.

If the medical protocol precedent set by Judge Mariani is upheld, the result could be enormously beneficial to Hep C patients throughout the nation’s racist prison-indus­ trial complex, which ranks first in the world in the number and percentage of its popula­ tion in prison and/or under the jurisdiction of the criminal “justice” system.

Mumia’s supporters are urged to call the phone numbers below and to contact the DOC via e-mail to demand that Depart­ ment of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel and the state of Pennsylvania do not appeal Judge Mariani’s decision and do not further delay administration of the life-saving antiviral medical treatment to Mumia.

John Wetzel’s office: (717) 728-2573; DOC office: (717) 728-4109; e-mail: [email protected].

Free Mumia Abu-Jamal! n Jeff Mackler is the director of the North­ ern California-based Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal. He can be reached at [email protected] squeeze. SEIU in Texas had to file for bankruptcy after an employer won a judgment of $7.8 million in a lawsuit arising from a Justice for Janitors strike in Houston. And it’s estimated that the union has spent $25 million over the course of the Fight for 15 campaign.

The $25 million was well spent. But the hundreds of millions of dollars collectively spent by unions, and union PACs—including SEIU—on the last election was waste bordering on malfeasance. Nearly all went to Democrats who are not only faux “friends” but are such inveterate and inventive losers that they failed to win an election while receiving the most votes!

Some of those funds should have gone to sustain and expand organizing successes like Fight for 15—while the rest could have been used to finance the launch of a party of our own—a labor party.

Trump Concedes Victory to Union—The President Elect, as co-owner of Trump Hotels, had refused to rec­ ognize a 2015 union representation election victory by Hotel and Culinary Workers at Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas and objected to a union election at a new D.C. Hotel. Normally, such disputes would go through a series of findings by the National Labor Relations Board. Since Trump will be appointing new NLRB members, the union threatened to send some dark clouds over his inauguration with legal actions against conflict of inter­ est. Recognition—and a contract—was quickly agreed to in Vegas, and the election will be held in Washington, where the union is confident of another victory. Child Abandonment—Texas was one of the first states to pass a law requiring teenagers to have parental consent before consulting a health-care professional about birth control. Now there is legislation pending in the state’s legislature requiring parental approval before anyone un­ der age 18 could join a union. n Ann Montague and Michael Schreiber contributed to this month’s Briefing. If you have a labor story appropri­ ate for this column please contact billonasch@kclabor.