Noelle Hanrahan: Mumia Abu-Jamal, what did you accomplish by your testimony today in court?
Mumia Abu-Jamal: I think I opened a window, not just to what I’ve suffered or even my case, but how the state responds to those 1000’s of people at last count — I think it’s a serious under count — 10,000 prisoners in Pennsylvania, how they respond to the challenge of hepatitis C. That is to say, they’ll do everything they can, not to treat those who have been infected with hepatitis C infections.
Noelle Hanrahan: How sick were you on March 30, 2015?
Mumia Abu-Jamal: I was as weak as a kitten. I still have no independent memory of me going there. I don’t actually remember falling into a coma or a diabetic shock. I remember going into the infirmary and waking up the next day — presumably what I thought was the next day, because we couldn’t see out the windows — at a hospital, and the feeling of wool in my mouth. They gave me water, and water tastes like cotton. I remember those things, but I was so weak, I could barely lift my arm.
Noelle Hanrahan: What relief are you seeking?
Mumia Abu-Jamal: Something very simple: treatment. Not treatment of the symptoms, but treatment of the disease, hepatitis C. They could do it tomorrow, and in six weeks, eight weeks, 12 weeks, or at the outside 28 weeks, there’s a 95 – 98% chance I’ll be cured and the hepatitis C virus will be eradicated and undetectable in my system.
Noelle Hanrahan: Mumia Abu-Jamal, what reasons did the Department of Corrections give for denying you care for hepatitis C?
Mumia Abu-Jamal: They told me — or it was told to me by the doctor here — that I was not sick enough to qualify. That my viral load wasn’t large enough and my platelet count was too low. That I — essentially I was too healthy to be treated. I wasn’t sick enough.
Noelle Hanrahan: Did they repeat those questions in the courtroom?
Mumia Abu-Jamal: They insinuated it. They made reference to people reporting that I look better, me telling the dermatologist that I feel great. I do feel great compared to how I felt, and people have told me that I look good. But I think I also did not hesitate to mention that the doctor here said, this can recur at any time. So you know, I can look good today and be back in that state in a month, a week, a year, tomorrow.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
