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Dear Friend,
For over three decades, Mumia Abu-Jamal has been at the heart of Prison Radio’s mission. An accomplished journalist before his incarceration, news director at WDAS and news and cultural reporter at NPR’s WUHY (now WHYY), Mumia has redefined journalism from behind bars, producing powerful radio essays that expose systemic injustices. Since 1992, Prison Radio has been his colleagues, his producers and publishers: broadcasting his voice to the world. As censorship and retaliation have intensified, we’ve also taken a stand as organizers and legal advocates, fighting for his freedom and humanity.
Today, we face a new battle: SCI Mahanoy’s war on Mumia’s life of the mind and on his tools: books and papers. Imprisoned for 43 years serving a Death by Incarceration (DBI) (Life Without Parole), Mumia has endured relentless attempts to strip him of nourishment, fresh air, healthy food, and intellectual sustenance. During his 29 years on death row, he was limited to just 7 books at a time, forced to choose between works like Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon and Vincent Harding’s There Is a River. Unable to have all of the books he has written, even. Now, SCI Mahanoy’s new policy restricts prisoners to possessions fitting within four small 10x16x10-inch record boxes, a punitive, retaliatory measure aimed at silencing Mumia, a scholar and activist who is currently writing his PhD dissertation.
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