“Chimenti … Settled?”
Salvator Chimenti, a Pennsylvania state prisoner who is the named plaintiff in a civil rights suit against the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections—the other two plaintiffs are David Maldonado and Daniel Leyva—is suing doc on behalf of thousands of Pennsylvania state prisoners suffering from hepatitis C and its notorious side effects.
That case may have reached a powerful turning point as both sides have reached a proposed settlement agreement. In that proposed settlement, Chimenti et. al versus Pennsylvania DOC proposes to treat 1,500 men, and women of course, who have F2, F3, and F4 Fibrosis or Metavir scores within six months—and an additional 1,500 Hepatitis patients during the next year with powerful drugs known DAAs or direct acting antiviral drugs. After 2020, 2000 people are to be treated annually.
The settlement agreement has to first be approved by the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia after a hearing in early February 2019. If the judge agrees, the go date will be July 1st, 2019. Mr. Chimenti was seeking Hep C treatment as far back as 2010 when it was determined that he suffered stage four cirrhosis of his liver due to the infection. He and his co-plaintiffs filed suit initially in 2015, and in 2017, filed an amended complaint.
Earlier in 2018, the court declared Chimenti a class action. The Chimenti class is represented by renowned civil rights, lawyer David Roduvsky and Su Ming-Yeh of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project in Philadelphia. If this proposed settlement agreement is signed into law, it will be a groundbreaking change in how the state and prisons handle Hepatitis C cases.
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)