My name is Edward Sistrunk, AKA Omar Askia Ali.
In most states, there is parole eligibility for life-sentence prisoners. However, that is not the case in Pennsylvania. Therefore, House Bill 135 has been submitted for the second time, which would provide- provide parole eligibility for life-sentence prisoners in Pennsylvania.
Representative Jason Dawkins, a Democrat, resubmitted the bill because he could not muster the needed support to bring this bill into fruition the first time.
Although Representative Dawkins has reintroduced the parole eligibility bill, there is still a dire need for House Bill 2135, which is the new number for this bill. What is needed is for families, friends, and supporters to contact all Pennsylvania legislators, regardless of which district they are in. We must urge him to support House Bill 135.
The parliament’s state reps are already co-sponsoring House Bill 135: [unintelligible names]. We are all aware of a family member or friend in Pennsylvania who is surviving- serving life without the possibility of parole who’s worthy of a chance at life. On the other side of the wall, we need at least 103 legislators to sign on to endorse House Bill 135. Even if there’s no one in your family with a life sentence, House Bill 135 is the right thing to do.
The HRC, the Human Rights Coalition in Philly, is staging an event with floats, etcetera, in support of parole for lifers. You can contact them at the Human Rights Coalition at 4134 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104. [Inaudible]
Please keep in mind, out of the over 5,000 life sentence prisoners in terms of angels, 225 are juvenile lifers. The Philadelphia Defenders Association represents 75% of them, which they have been marginally funded. We hope you will support this effort. Thank you very much.
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)