Son of former Black Panther is sounding the alarm for his father
Undated photo of Mumia abu Jamal (Johanna Fernandez)
Mumia Abu Jamal, the award-winning journalist, author and former Black Panther Party member imprisoned for the murder of a Philadelphia police officer in 1981, is in immediate danger of death according to his son Jamal Hart. Hart is calling on abu Jamal’s supporters to rally once again to his father’s side.
According to a press release from the National Lawyer’s Guild Mr. Abu-Jamal collapsed in the prison infirmary at SCI Mahanoy from diabetic shock on March 30. He was hospitalized but despite his serious condition, he was transferred back to the prison just two days later.”
43-year old Hart says that Abu Jamal is currently suffering from at least four different types of ailments.
“He had diabetic shock and passed out; his blood sugar level was around 776. His sodium level was 160. These numbers don’t happen overnight. He still has a skin ailment. No professional has diagnosed it,” Hart said.
According to the Mayo Clinic’s website, blood sugar levels that are too high or too low can lead to a diabetic coma, and blood sugar levels greater than 600 milligrams per deciliter is called Diabetic Hyperosmolar Syndrome (DHS). The site goes on to state “left untreated, DHS can cause life-threatening dehydration and coma. DHS is most common in middle-aged and older adults who have type 2 diabetes.”
Abu Jamal is 60 years old.
Unfortunately Abu Jamal’s medical records are confidential and information can only be given to next of kin.
“I can’t even officially tell you [abu Jamal was] here,” saidMike Peckman, director of marketing and public relations at the Schuylkill Medical Center at Pottsville. “So no, I cannot discuss the care/treatment he received.” Calls to SCI Mahanoy, the rural Pennsylvania prison where Abu Jamal is being held, were not returned to the Sentinel by press time.
Abu Jamal was convicted in 1981 of the murder of 26-year old Daniel Faulkner. He was sentenced to death and a warrant for his execution was signed in 1995. A series of appeals stayed the execution until 2011 when the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office announced it would no longer seek to reinstate the death sentence against abu Jamal. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and released into the general prison population.
Abu Jamal has maintained his innocence of the crime.
Hart says that the state of Pennsylvania is still trying to kill his father. “Because he is who he is, and the state could not kill him legally, its obvious the state is now trying to kill him thru medical neglect,” said Hart.
Karen Pomer, a Los Angeles-based activist, was a student at Temple University when she met first Abu Jamal in the late 1970s. Her award-winning film MOVE: Confrontation in Philadelphia, in which Abu Jamal appears, chronicles the ordeal of the Move organization and its standoff with the city and police in August 1978. That standoff left one police officer dead and nine members of he organization sentenced to 30 years to life in a questionable trial.
“To see the photos of him now, looking so ill, it’s shocking,” said Pomer.
“He clearly needs to be seen by someone outside of the prison system, so I would call on everybody who is in a position to help to do so: to call on outside specialists to see him.”
Because Abu Jamal has not been seen by medical professionals outside of the prison infirmary – despite being stabilized by the Schuylkill Medical Center – his Hart says there is no concrete way to tell if he is receiving the proper care.
“A medical professional would be able to tell us whether or not certain medications he is using may be counteracting the blood pressure or the diabetes medication. They might be speeding up the illness,” Hart says.
Hart says that his siblings have set up a page on IndieGogo to raise funds for medical specialists, investigators and new lawyers for his father. Hart says that investigators and new lawyers are needed at this time in order to deal with what he calls a “murder plot” against his father.
“My son asked me something that was devastating,” Jamal said. “He said ‘How could grandpa be on death row for 30 years, never have a common cold, and then be in general population for a year and a half, and have three serious ailments?’ That should set off some type of questions.”
The IndieGogo fundraising site for Mumia abu Jamal is at: www.indiegogo.com/projects/mumia-abu-jamal-medical-crisis-fund