https://socialistaction.org/2017/01/09/mumia-wins-court-victory-for-prison-medical-care/
Mumia wins court victory for prison medical care
/ 14 hours ago
By JEFF MACKLER
“It’s a Knock Out Punch,” says Mumia. “We did something that’s never
been done before,” says Pam Africa, chair of International Concerned
Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
On Jan. 3, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Mariani granted the motion
filed by innocent political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal for a preliminary
injunction ordering the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) to
have Mumia examined by a prison doctor within 14 days to determine one
issue—whether the administration of the life-saving anti-viral Hepatits
C medication, sofobuvir, would do harm to Mumia. This formality is then
to be followed within seven days by the administration of the very
medication that Mumia has been fighting for since he filed his first
lawsuit demanding treatment in May 2015.
The judge’s order affirmed that Mumia has Hepatitis C, a
life-threatening liver disease, and needs immediate treatment. The
denial of such treatment, wrote Mariani, represents a violation of
Mumia’s rights under the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment
prohibiting “cruel and usual punishment.” The judge’s order overturned a
lower court decision on the same matter. Judge Mariani’s rulings were
the first in U.S. history in which a state’s medical protocols for
prisoner treatment have been overruled.
Mumia was represented jointly by Bret Grote of the Abolitionist Law
Center and independent attorney Robert Boyle. While the judge’s decision
applies only to Mumia, Boyle noted that it is bound to effect the
class-action lawsuits filed by the Abolitionist Law Center now in
progress wherein some 9000 other Pennsylvania prisoners with Hepatitis C
have sought the same relief.
3dcd1-mumia2Boyle added that the DOC has 30 days to appeal Judge
Mariani’s decision. Should Mariani refuse to grant a DOC request for a
stay of his order for the purpose of filing an appeal to the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the DOC may then proceed directly to
the Third Circuit.
Boyle cautioned via a Jan. 4 conference call presentation to some 30 key
national Mumia activists that while “the law is on our side,” and
notwithstanding the ongoing and dangerous progression of Mumia’s
illness, past history has demonstrated that, in Mumia’s case at least,
the law is sometimes violated with impunity. This was a reference to the
infamous “Mumia exception,” wherein U.S. courts for decades have
routinely departed from standard legal principles and practices to
thwart Mumia’s fundamental legal rights.
A mountain of evidence of Mumia’s innocence on the charges of killing
Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981 has been repeatedly
excluded from the record by a racist criminal “justice” system intent on
punishing one of the nation’s most outspoken and courageous fighters for
the rights of all humanity. Indeed, Mumia’s first 1982 trial was
presided over by the infamous “hanging” Judge Albert Sabo, who in his
antechambers prior to entering the courtroom, in the presence of another
judge and a court reporter stated, “Yeah, and I’m going to help ‘em fry
the n****r.”
Nevertheless, optimistic as always, Mumia recorded a statement of thanks
to his supporters that declared Judge Mariani’s decision to be a
“knock-out punch” won by all his supporters.
The DOC’s formal defense of its refusal to administer the life-saving
medication to Mumia included the cruel and inhuman argument that should
Mumia prevail, the total cost of his treatment along with the treatment
of some 9000 other Pennsylvania prisoners with the same Hep C virus
would be an estimated $800 million. Indeed, if the Third Circuit rules
in Mumia’s favor, the “cost” could be even higher since the court’s
jurisdiction includes New Jersey and Delaware as well as Pennsylvania.
Mumia’s victory perhaps inadvertently exposed one of the nation’s most
corrupt and profitable industries, the pharmaceutical business. With
regard to the 2013 discovery of sofobuvir, for example, the medicine
that is estimated to have close to a 95 percent cure rate for Hep C
patients, the wholesale acquisition cost to a hospital for the standard
12-week course of treatment for single patient is $84,000, while the
estimated production cost is $68 to $136. If ever there was an example
of a degenerate social system, that of the United States and its
health-care institutions, who argue in court that $68 is too high a
price to pay for a human life, would stand out in bold relief.
Nevertheless, Judge Mariani rejected Pennsylvania’s financial cost
arguments. His decision also provided substantial reasons why a possible
DOC request for a stay of his order would be inappropriate, indicating
that Hep C prisoners are in a state of constant deterioration that
requires prompt treatment as opposed to a steady medical state in which
a delay would not impact their fundamental condition.
Attorney Robert Boyle, who successfully fought for and won the release
of political prisoner Lynne Stewart three years ago, expressed concern
that Mumia’s supporters continue their mobilizations aimed at winning
broad support for Mumia’s immediate treatment and for his freedom in
future litigation.
Boyle pointed to new legal avenues now open to Mumia to seek a new trial
based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that challenged a
death-penalty verdict based on the fact that a state district attorney
participated in a prisoner’s prosecution and later, after being promoted
to the position of state Supreme Court justice, sat in deliberations
regarding the prisoner’s appeal. Ironically, this U.S. Supreme Court
decision concerned Judge Ronald Castillo, who was both Mumia’s
prosecutor and later his judge.
If the medical protocol precedent set by Judge Mariani is upheld, the
result could be enormously beneficial to Hep C patients throughout the
nation’s racist prison-industrial complex, that ranks first in the world
in the number and percentage of its population in prison and/or under
the jurisdiction of the criminal “justice” system.
Mumia’s supporters are urged to call the phone numbers below and to
contact the DOC via e-mail to demand that Department of Corrections
Secretary John Wetzel and the state of Pennsylvania do not appeal Judge
Mariani’s decision and do not further delay administration of the
life-saving anti-viral medical treatment to Mumia.
John Wetzel’s office: 717-728-2573; DOC office: 717-728-4109; e-mail:
ra-crpadocsecretary@xxxxxx
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal!
Jeff Mackler is the director of the Northern California-based
Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal. He can be reached at jmackler@xxxxxxx
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January 9, 2017 in Black Liberation, Health care, Police & FBI, Prisons.
Tags: Mumia Abu-Jamal
Related posts
Mumia’s fight for medical treatment
Who is Mumia Abu-Jamal?
Critical Court Decision Ahead for Mumia
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