“Maroon Fights Two Battles.”
Russell Maroon Shoatz, the black liberation fighter and self-taught historian is presently engaged in at least two battles for his life. One is colon cancer, stage four, which he has been fighting for about a year. Two is COVID-19, which has been fighting him for about a month and a half.
Given his resilience, resourcefulness, and fighting spirit, it’s difficult to say if either of those challenges or both of them will prevail. The 77-year-old has been held by the DOC since 1972, and the DOC isn’t helping his chances. They continue to deny him access to surgery for his cancer diagnosis. For several weeks, Maroon was held in a makeshift infirmary in a gym with 29 other men because of the surge of COVID cases in DOC facilities.
His daughter Theresa reports he has since been returned to his cell, but the cell was extremely cold and guards refused him sufficient blankets. The struggle continues. Human rights groups, like the Pennsylvania Poor People’s Campaign, the Human Rights Coalition and the Coalition to Abolish Death by Incarcerationb known as CADBI
Have been protesting in Harrisburg, calling for release of COVID prisoners like Maroon. Maroon has, over these long decades, taught scores of younger men how to read, how to think, and how to study. His supporters demand his immediate release.
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)