Health Action
DENIAL OF HEPATITIS C TREATMENT IN PRISON - LATEST ON
Monday, September 7, 2015 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Denial of Hepatitis C Treatment in Prison
Including:
* General blockage of access by incarcerated people to unconscionably-priced curative hep C drugs
* Mumia Abu-Jamal's lawsuit demanding hep C treatment
* the successful struggle to get hep C treatment for former Black Panther Robert Seth Hayes
In the NY/NJ/CT area, you can hear WBAI at 99.5 FM.
Anywhere, you can stream WBAI live at http://www.wbai.org/playernew.html .
WBAI live streams are also available via a Pacifica app that works on the iPhone, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Links at https://itunes.apple.com/app/id583381890?mt=8
If you miss the show, go to the audio archive any time after the show for a downloadable file at http://www.wbai.org/server-archive.html and scroll down to Mon., Sept. 7 at 1 PM.
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Guests:
Victoria Law, writer and editor covering incarceration, gender and resistance; author of Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women
Dr. Suzanne Ross, spokesperson for the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition and longtime activist for the freedom of U.S. political prisoners
Ramona Africa, spokesperson for the MOVE organization; representative, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal; former political prisoner and survival of the U.S. government/Phila. police bombing of the MOVE family house in 1985
Anne Lamb, Co-Chair, New York Chapter of the Jericho Amnesty Movement
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In jails and prisons around the U.S., incarcerated people are being denied access to powerful new drugs (released over the past 18 months) for hepatitis C, a dangerous liver disease which is growing among poor people and especially rampant in prisons. The drugs have been showing remarkable cure rates -- 90-95% -- but the pharmaceutical manufacturers are charging upwards of $60,000-$85,000 for the 12-week course of treatment necessary to obtain these results. Prison authorities claim the cost is the reason for their refusal to follow the standard of care, but this withholding is just the latest in a long history of medical neglect and maltreatment of incacarcerated people nationwide.
In the case of political prisoners, a second, more insidious dynamic comes into play: The state and federal authorities' efforts to exploit the medical problems of these aging men and women to exacerbate their denial of care and medical mistreatment in order to purposely accelerate their deaths.
This can be seen most acutely in the mysterious, sudden deaths of previously healthy MOVE political prisoners Merle Africa, age 40 (1998) and Phil Africa, age 59 (Jan. 2015) -- and now the persistent pattern of denial of medical information and inappropriate medical care of Mumia Abu-Jamal, age 61. In early August, Mumia's attorneys filed a lawsuit challenging the Pennsylvania prison authorities' denial of medical care, including treatment for hepatitis C, and life-threatening mismanagement of his diabetes and extremely painful skin condition. This comes weeks after other incarcerated men in Pa. filed a class action suit against the Department of Corrections' refusal to prescribe the hep C drugs to those who need them.
On the positive side, after years of medical neglect, New York prison authorities in July finally responded after a long grassroots pressure campaign and began treating former Black Panther political prisoner Robert Seth Hayes, age 67, with the new drugs for his hepatitis C. This is a victory for him and the political prisoner support movement, but he still has other medical issues not being properly addressed, so the vigilance and pressure will have to continue.
Tune in for interviews with a journalist and several activists who have been active in efforts to expose and fight these medical injustices.
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URGENT: 911 Report to the Movement on Mumia
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2015 6 PM – 9 PM ALL SOULS UNITARIAN CHURCH 1157 LEXINGTON AVENUE (between 79th and 80th Streets)
Now that Mumia’s legal team has filed the demand for a very specific medical treatment plan, based on the tentative diagnosis of his medical condition that one of his doctors has made, we feel it is important that we share the legal strategy and the medical findings with the movement. There will also be a presentation of the outrageous and deadly medical picture in the prison system as a whole for all of our political prisoners as well as for the general prison population.
We will discuss some beginning plans for the next political steps we must take to save Mumia’s life and to free him.
Sponsor: Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, www.freemumia.com
*********************************More information:
Hepatitis C is Common in Prisons, but Treatment Is Rare
By Victoria Law
http://www.thebody.com/content/76327/hepatitis-c-is-common-in-prisons-but-treatment-is-.html
Website of Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition/International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
http://www.freemumia.com
Info on Robert Seth Hayes - website of The Jericho Movement
http://thejerichomovement.com/chapters/new-york-city
