Fernando Nunez, Jailhouse Lawyer for Love and Fate.
Several years ago, I wrote about a remarkable jailhouse lawyer who I learned was a jailhouse environmentalist.
Fernando Nunez is a jailhouse lawyer who is using his litigation skills to fight for love and his fate. In fact, he is suing the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, for conjugal visits for husbands and wives, religious circumcision, and the right to pray for believers.
Nunez, an observant Muslim, was inspired by another jailhouse lawyer, a prisoner who filed a similar suit in state court. What he learned was that state judges, all of whom were elected, would never help for fear of losing re-election. So, he began Nunez versus Tom Wolf, in federal court, where judges have life tenure, and, therefore, no fear of reelection. His goal: Nunez says society must recognize what’s normal; that’s a vow made in a traditional marriage, he adds. It takes a strong woman to sacrifice for a prisoner, adding further, feelings and emotions are undermined. Women are queens, he said. No one should be told how and when to love their husband.
Nunez is a prodigious reader of case law. And a student of statutory construction. He knows the relevant cases like the back of his hand. Will Nunez make history? We shall see. On November 1st, Nunez versus Wolf will have oral arguments in the Third Circuit US Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.
With love, not fear, this is Mumia Abu Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio