“Hep C: A New Death Row.”
When I left Death Row, little did I know that I was entering another quieter, non-obvious Death Row. Here, I’m not speaking of Pennsylvania’s draconian life sentences, what I’ve called slow Death Row.
No, I mean death by medical neglect and a malicious form of malpractice by the DOC’s failure to treat the deadly liver infection Hepatitis C. At our court hearings in December 2015, we learned of the DOC’s secret protocol which explicitly refuse to even consider treating any prisoner unless and until a person had esophageal varices or, in English, bleeding from one’s throat.
A federal judge sitting in Scranton, PA, Robert Mariani,looked at that protocol and twice, twice, declared it unconstitutional. For lawyers, jailhouse lawyers, and especially you, members of the NLG or National Lawyers Guild, this is your open door to bring law to the people, to save lives, not to mention help, and to make state DOC medical officials serve medical needs and not profit motives.
I end on this note. Today, in Pennsylvania prisons, indeed in this very prison, prisoners are still being turned away because DOC medical continues to apply its malicious and unconstitutional profit-driven protocol. Our work is not yet done. From imprisoned nation, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
![Prison Radio is sharing an abbreviated version of a press release covering recent racist incidents at SCI Rockview in PA and the organizing to demand accountability. We are reaching out to people incarcerated at Rockview as well as recently transferred folks, inviting them to call, in hopes of hearing commentaries from them.
Benner Township, PA.-
On November 24th, 2023, imprisoned people at SCI Rockview found two nooses hanging in the CO’s office, displayed visibly for many prisoners to see. When the prisoners asked the staff why the nooses were hung, they were told it was a joke.
By December 4th, prisoners filed a grievance to document what they saw, noting that the hanging of the nooses was “unethical, racially motivated, hateful, [a] deliberate debasement of black inmates" and “unsafe for inmates, staff, [and] the whole prison in general.” In the grievance, they demanded that Sgt. Mosser and CO Richard be fired and investigated for a hate crime, and for CO Kirchner to get therapy. Captain Andrews, the head of security, denied the grievance.
The sergeant and COs are still working in the prison to this day, with no repercussions...
As of March 10th, prisoners have reached out to Pennsylvania officials at the Dept. of Corrections in a letter campaign, sending 100 copies of the grievance. Copies of the letter also were mailed to Governor Shapiro, Senator Fetterman, Senator Street, and various advocacy groups. The demands for relief in the original grievance have now become the platform of demands for this campaign. About 20 of the 100 letters were withheld by the prison.
Activists on the outside are joining forces with prisoners to elevate their demands, flooding the phone lines of DOC offices, assisting with outreach to media, and circulating the stories of prisoners who have found unity in opposition to the facility's virulent institutional racism.
In any other workplace, hanging a noose would be grounds for immediate termination. However, Nicki Paul, the superintendent's assistant and "grievance coordinator" informed the public that they self-investigated their staff and found they did nothing wrong.
Read the full article at i
https://conta.cc/4ayDxlB](https://www.prisonradio.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)