Prison Radio
Mumia Abu-Jamal

Mumia: You heard that I was hospitalized. It is not true. In fact, I haven’t been up medical for about a month…

Other speaker: Oh wow!

Mumia: …which is rare for me because I usually go up three times a week to take a bath. But because of this coronavirus and the emergency situation, the only place I’ve been is to the library, to the yard every three days and on the block right here. But I have not been hospitalized. I don’t know where that report comes from. It is not true. So I am okay. All right. 

Other speaker: Yes.

Mumia: I thank you guys for caring about me and checking on me, but I am well. I needed freedom.

Other speaker: Oh yes [inaudible] You know we told you [inaudible] We got your back and anything we hear we’re jumping on it. We’re going to let these people know that we got your back and we’re watching it, even if it’s false so that they know not to step out of line. So happy to hear that you’re okay. We love you. We love you. Yes. 

Mumia: I know. Well, it’s good to be heard. [laughs] Thank y’all. Thank all of y’all for touching base for me and caring for real, that means more to me than you know.

Other speakers: That’s right. Yes sir. Oh, we know, you know, Mumia. We know. We got your back.

Mumia: That’s right. Well, I just heard tonight, about a half hour ago, that a brother named Sutton was down Phoenix and he was fighting for thirty years to get out of prison based on his innocence. He just died of coronavirus.

Other speakers: Oh no, oh no.

Mumia: And he never made it. He never made it home. 

Other speaker: That’s true.

Mumia: The state system, as I said in a recent commentary, everybody’s locked down and you get 23 hours in the cell and then that last 24th hour, 45 minutes out of the cell. And you can do, you can take a shower, you can get a bucket, swab your decks and mop your cell, and you can call people on the phone, or you can plug up your tablet to the kiosk. But you’re not leaving the block, and they only started yard about a week ago. And that’s one 45 minute period every three days. I mean, it’s insane, right? So everybody in the state is locked down, just like everybody in the United States is locked down. We are really in prison nation now. 

Other speaker: That’s right.

Mumia: People are incarcerated and the bars are the fear of, you know, getting ill, getting sick and dying.

Other speaker: That’s right, that’s right.

Mumia: Those are the bars. So, people gotta be careful. It’s real. And people need to be very, very careful and take care of themselves. And I think really what they need to do is appreciate the people that love them in their family, because you’re spending all day for weeks and months now with your family. You got to make the best of that, because your family are your people. So, it might be a pain in the ass, but you gotta make the best of it. Alright?

Other speaker: Yes sir.

Mumia: That’s the situation.