I am overjoyed that a good friend of ours on the inside, Sergio Hyland, also known as Uptown Serg and the Hood Abolitionist, is finally freed after spending many years unjustly behind bars. Ever since coming to Prison Radio as an intern, I found myself often inspired by his words of wisdom and radical observations.
I’ve listened to and transcribed many of his commentaries over the years—commentaries about the meaning of abolition, about why the show Cops is a sham propaganda program—up until the day that he announced he was free. I found out while I was walking to class. I was delighted, knowing that he would soon return to his loved ones, his friends and his family.
I keep up with Sergio on his Instagram account where he updates us on all sorts of things, whether it’s his story posts about his cat or his political videos that bear the same incisive and sharp voice that he had as a correspondent. He’s also an Editor of The Movement magazine and an Executive Assistant of the Abolitionist Law Center, two radical powerhouses in Pennsylvania. Without a doubt, Sergio is thriving on the outside.
When I asked him recently about Prison Radio, he and Robert Saleem Holbrook, Executive Director of the Abolitionist Law Center, came together to talk about how important our work has been for them.
“When I was on the inside, I was a correspondent for Prison Radio,” Sergio said, “and I can rightfully say that if it weren’t for Prison Radio, a lot of the injustices, the abuses, and the inhumane treatment that prisoners suffer from daily would never be exposed.”
“Prison Radio is a voice for the voiceless,” Saleem added. “When I was on the inside, I looked forward to listening to the commentaries from prisoners across the country, especially Mumia Abu-Jamal, Russell Maroon Shoatz, Kerry Shakaboona Marshall, and my comrade Serg.”
Right now, Prison Radio is in the thick of many fights for justice. With challenges both new and old, whether it’s Mumia Abu-Jamal’s denial of a retrial or the continued mistreatment of the women at Women’s Huron Valley, or fighting to free Marvin “Shaka” Walker, we’re counting on your support in order to keep fighting.
“I just want to ask everybody to support Prison Radio in the best way that you can,” Sergio concluded, “and support Mumia Abu-Jamal in his struggle to come home with his community where he belongs.”
Every dollar goes to running the phone lines for our correspondents to record commentaries, to running campaigns on behalf of struggles within, to marching forward in what Mumia, quoting Nelson Mandela, reminds us often as a “long walk to freedom.”
It has been a difficult year with its fair share of challenges, but with you beside us, we can keep going, and we will win. I believe in it with my whole heart and all of my being. Thank you for listening to us, and thank you for lending us your strength and support. Let’s keep on fighting together.
When We Fight, We Win,
Bea Phi
Prison Radio Staff
