UAW 2865, representing 13,000 student workers in the University of California system, wrote a protest letter to Governor Tom Wolf demanding medical care for Mumia and the 10,000 prisoners in the Pennsylvania prison system with Hepatitis C. The letter is below.
Gov. Tom Wolf,
Mumia Abu-Jamal (#AM 8335) has been a longtime honorary member of the National Writers Union, United Auto Workers Local 1981; as a fellow UAW local we were very concerned when we learned that he has been severely ill with symptoms of active hepatitis C for at least the last six months. What is equally distressing is that according to a private doctor who was allowed to see Mumia in the prisoner visiting room, treatment given to Mumia by the prison infirmary has contributed to his many painful, debilitating, life-threatening symptoms, such as nearly going into a diabetic coma on March 30 when he had to be hospitalized. But the most distressing of all is that on September 18, Magistrate Judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania Karoline Mehalchick issued a proposed order deny Mumia’s motion for a preliminary injunction and his 1st amended complaint seeking immediate treatment for active hepatitis C. This was in response to the preliminary injunction (Abu- Jamal v. Kerestes) filed August 26 seeking a court order for immediate lifesaving treatment. All these factors point to a willful case of medical neglect, which could, if not addressed, lead to Mumia’s death. Treatment for hepatitis C has a 95 percent cure rate. By withholding that medication, the Pennsylvania Department of Correction would be responsible for imposing a death sentence on Mumia.