From The Desk of Noelle Hanrahan- In The Matter Of Mumia Abu-Jamal- The Struggle Continues -Free Mumia Now! -10 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO FREE MUMIA (and de-incarcerate the nation)

3 February 2012-Mumia Out of Solitary

On January 27, class-war prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal was finally released from solitary confinement into the general prison population at SCI Mahanoy in Frackville, Pennsylvania. In the last issue of WV, we published a letter by the Partisan Defense Committee protesting that prison authorities had vindictively kept Mumia in solitary under onerous special restrictions following the decision by the Philadelphia district attorney to not seek a new death sentence. In a message thanking those who signed petitions on his behalf—some 5,500 people, according to freemumia.com—or wrote statements of support, Mumia noted that “this is only part one” in the struggle for freedom. Free Mumia Abu-Jamal!

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(reprinted from Workers Vanguard No. 995, 3 February 2012)

Workers Vanguard is the newspaper of the Spartacist League with which the Partisan Defense Committee is affiliated.

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10 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO FREE MUMIA (and de-incarcerate the nation)

I
Get involved. Join us. For • updates, alerts, and ways you can plug into the movement in your local community, check out:
• ICFFMAJ (International
Concerned Friends and Family of
Mumia Abu-Jamal) and the Free
Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
at www.freemumia.com
m Prison Radio at www.prisonradio.org
• EMAJ (Educators for Mumia Abu-
Jamal) at www.emajonline.com

2
Contact John Wetzel, . Secretary of the Pennsyl­vania Department of Corrections,
and ask that the inhumane con­ditions, isolation, and torture of inmates be immediately corrected.
John Wetzl, Secretary,
Department of Corrections
2520 Lisburn Road
P.O. Box 598
Camp Hill, PA 17001-0598
Phone: (717) 975-4928
Email: ra-contactdoc@pa.gov

3
Call, write, email Philadelphia District Attorney to
demand a new trial for Mumia:
Seth Williams, Philadelphia DA Three South Penn Square Philadelphia, PA 19107-3499
Phone: (215) 686-8000 Email: DA_Central@phila.gov

4
Organize a showing of . two new hard-hitting documentaries:
Long Distance Revolutionary—
A Journey with Mumia Abu-
Jamal (Street Legal Cinema, www.
mumia-themovie.com)
Justice On Trial—The Case of
Mumia Abu-Jamal (Big Noise
Films, www.bignoisefilms.com/
films/tactical-media/ii4-justice-
on-trial
Combine your showing with a speaker; contact EMAJ (Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal), www. emajonline.com.

5
Listen to Mumia's . commentaries at www. prisonradio.org and ask your local community radio station to include them in their programming. Make a donation to Prison Radio, www.prisonradio.org
Prison Radio
PO Box 411074
San Francisco, CA 94141
Keep Mumia's voice and the voices of other political prisoners on the airwaves.

6
Support the investigation . into the Philadelphia District Attorney's corruption
and suppression of key evidence in Mumia's trial. Send your contribution to:
The Committee to Save Mumia Abu-Jamal P.O. Box 2012 New York, NY 10159
Make checks payable to "National Lawyers Guild Foundation" earmarked "Mumia."

7
Write to . Mumia Abu-Jamal:
Mumia Abu-Jamal AM 8335 SCI Mahanoy 301 Morea Road Frackville, PA 17932

8
Call i-Soo-VISIT-PA
to say you will only vacation in Pennsylvania when Mumia is granted a new trial, a moratorium on executions is enacted, and the MOVE 9 are set free.

9
Read Mumia's new . book, The Classroom and the Cell Conversations on Black Life in America, and his new pamphlet addressed to the Occupy Movement, Message to the Movement. Both are available through Prison Radio, www.prisonradio.org. Ask your local bookstore to carry Mumia's books.

10

Join your local Mumia
organizing group, or
start a new one.
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TAKE ACTION NOW

(1) Demand that Mumia Abu-Jamal be
transferred to General Population!
Demand the shutdown of RHU (Restricted
Housing Unit) Torture Blocks!
John Wetzel
Secretary, Department of Corrections
2520 Lisburn Road
P.O. Box 598
Camp Hill, PA 17001-0598
Phone: (717) 975-4928 Email: ra-contactdoc@pa.gov

John Kerestes
Prison Superintendent SCI Mahanoy (see address below)
Phone: (570) 773-2158 Fax: (570) 783-2008

(2) Demand that the District Attorney
petition the court to free Mumia, based on
suppression of evidence and prosecutorial
misconduct.

Seth Williams, Philadelphia DA Phone: (215) 686-8000 Email: DA_Central@phila.gov Three South Penn Square Philadelphia, PA 19107-3499
(3) Send Mumia a note of support.

Mumia Abu-Iamal
AM 8335 SCI Mahanoy 301 Morea Road Frackville, PA 17932

SOLITARY FACTS:

Solitary confinement typically means: 23
or more hours a day in a 6x9 cell; meals and
communications with prison staff passed
through a slot in the solid steel cell door; exercise
alone, in a fenced or walled "dog run"; routine
denial of visits, telephone calls, television, reading
materials, and pencils and paper.

Isolation Units have never been shown to
serve any legitimate penal purpose, and may
in fact increase both prison violence and
recidivism.

The construction of dungeons, holes, and
Isolation Units has dramatically outpaced the
skyrocketing prison population growth of the
last 30 years. Today, over 80,000 prisoners are
held in solitary, 25,000 of who are in long-term
solitary "supermax" units.

Numerous studies have noted psychological
damage caused by solitary confinement. As little
as a week in solitary has been shown to affect
EEG (brainwave) activity. For those prisoners
already suffering from, or prone to, mental
illness-which in some states can make up nearly
half of all inmates in solitary-the experience
of such punishment can cause extreme mental anguish and irreparable psychological damage.

A clear majority of Americans oppose the
use of torture under any circumstances, but
prisoners often remain in isolation for months,
years, and even decades.This widespread form
of torture has received scant media attention.

For more information visit www.hrcoalition. org and the investigative news site www. solitarywatch.com.