- Jamal News Service
The evidentiary hearing on the motion for a preliminary injunction in Mumia Abu-Jamal v. James Price et. al. resumed October 10 and concluded October 16, 1995 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The suit charges that the PA Department of Corrections (DOC) violated Mumia's constitutional rights by obstructing his access to the courts and the media in retaliation for "Live From Death Row" and the recorded radio commentaries. (See the initial report from Jamal News Service, "Mumia's Civil Rights Hearing in Pittsburgh" for details.
James Price, Superintendent of SCI-Greene, continued his testimony. He was questioned regarding all aspects of the lawsuit - denying media interviews to Mumia, the mail watch which sanctioned photocopying both privileged and nonprivileged incoming and outgoing mail which was forwarded to the Office of Chief Counsel for the DOC, confiscation of privileged legal mail from Mumia's attorneys, policy prohibiting a prisoner's engagement in a business or profession, and the policy change that barred Mumia's paralegals. He was followed by his Administrative Assistant Jean Mears whose testimony focused on her role in serving as liaison between the media and the prison. Telephone, visitation and media contact logs were reviewed extensively, with major discrepancies found between documents (Mears insisted there were numerous typographical errors).
Price tried to depict a situation where decisions were made to deny media interviews due to a dire shortage of experienced staff. He counted eighteen requests from the media to interview Mumia, either by phone or face-to-face, during the period from Mumia's arrival at SCI-Greene to when his death warrant was signed; of these only one interview was granted. Reading between the lines of Price's testimony, it is possible to envision a human warehouse where men are locked in their cells 23 hours a day, where legal AND social phone calls are few and far between (in many cases, only 1-3 phone calls in one day for nearly 90 prisoners) where utter monotony is the norm. In such an atmosphere, visits and phone calls are viewed as more work for somebody, so why would the administration or the guards want to deviate from the basic routine? However, Price insisted, "I wanted to get essential things done first ... (including) meeting the psychological needs of the inmates!".
At the heart of this issue, however, is that the DOC denied Mumia access to the media in retaliation for writing a book critical of the prison system. Although Price maintained that the interviews were denied due to "staff and time constraints" documentation received on discovery reveals otherwise. The DOC was contacted by State Rep. Michael McGeehan after he became aware of "Live From Death Row's" impending publication. For years, McGeehan has actively campaigned for Mumia's execution. A letter from the DOC's then-Acting Commissioner Raymond Clymer to McGeehan (February 28, 1995) reveals the state's intention to squelch book publicity and intercept profits. (The letter stated, "The Department of Corrections will take every available effort to ensure that Jamal does not directly receive any royalties. Furthermore, his actions will cause us to more closely scrutinize his activities in order to prevent this from happening in the future ... I share your belief that victims should be the first to be compensated, and not a legal defense fund.") Price insisted a copy of that letter, cc'd to him, didn't reach his desk for at least another 30 days.
In his testimony, Price insisted he knew nothing about an investigation of Mumia that was on-going since the publicity around the NPR commentaries in May, 1994. He denied knowledge of Mumia's book deal prior to March 3, 1995. Regarding two February, 1995 incidents where Mumia's privileged legal mail from attorney Rachel Wolkenstein was confiscated, Price said he only "glanced at" legal documents that were brought to him for review. Among the confiscated documents were notes from a legal strategy meeting at which Mumia's attorneys discussed his case in detail.
A surprise witness was Ted Alleman, who taught classes through Penn State at SCI-Huntingdon in 1978-79 and helped a prisoner, Buddy Martin, publish a book on the story of his life, "Caesar's Gladiator Pit." The author was never disciplined in any way for his writing. On the contrary, he was allowed opportunities to promote the book through local talk shows. Alleman, who founded Tower Publishing for the express purpose of publishing Martin's book, was eventually told he (Alleman) had violated policy for having a business relationship with a prisoner, and he was told not to return to teach the following semester. Martin is now deceased.
Jean Mears' testimony followed Allerman's and, as noted above, was fraught with inconsistencies regarding media interview logs she prepared and submitted to the court v. other logs that the plaintiff's counsel acquired in discovery. Her testimony was the most blatantly inaccurate of any presented by the defense during these hearings, and her nervous attempts to elicit the judge's sympathy were almost embarrassing, according to observers.
Next witness was David Horwitz, Assistant Counsel from the Office of Chief Counsel, DOC. He is appointed by General Counsel to the Governor. Horwitz testified about his role in overseeing the investigation of Mumia since the time of the NPR controversy in May, 1994. Asked if he was aware of publicly stated opposition to Mumia by the Fraternal Order of Police, Horwitz answered, "I don't recall." However, he stated that he reads the Philadelphia Inquirer every day. Regarding McGeehan's inquiry to the Victims Compensation Board of PA in May, 1994, Horwitz responded, "I'm aware of it *now*" although he and Brian Gottlieb, General Counsel liaison to the DOC office where Horwitz works, had discussed the NPR commentaries and Gottlieb had been made aware of the McGeehan letter. Like the other DOC witnesses, Horwitz denied reading "Live From Death Row" and he also denied having read or heard the recorded commentaries. He said he had "secondhand knowledge" that the commentaries were critical of the prison system, but that no one in the central office was aware that Mumia was engaging in a business or profession. A letter from Superintendent Love at SCI- Huntingdon, however, reveals Love was aware of Mumia's published pieces for several years. In fact, the same Philadelphia Inquirer that Horwitz admits reading daily, published two of Mumia's commentaries in 1991 on the editorial page. The byline "Mumia Abu-Jamal" was prominently displayed.
Horwitz described the investigation from May, 1994 on, including the confiscation of Mumia's privileged legal mail from his attorneys. He admitted that the mail was clearly marked privileged, legal and confidential, and that photocopies were forwarded him. He admitted forwarding copies to Brian Gottlieb and to Cheryl Young, Chief Counsel of the DOC, although only a small portion of the letters were relevant to his investigation. Gottlieb, as noted above, represents the Office of General Counsel and therefore has direct access to Governor Ridge who signs death warrants. Horwitz said he "just skimmed over" a letter from Len Weinglass to Mumia, finding the paragraphs that were "relevant to the investigation" and reading only two paragraphs "closely." He did not admit to knowledge of a witness statement confiscated from Attorney Rachel Wolkenstein's mail. Regarding confiscated documents about legal strategy, he said, "I didn't real it that thoroughly." Observers noted that Horwitz frequently looked over at the Commonwealth's attorney, Tom Halloran, who appeared to be coaching him.
Mumia took the witness stand on Friday and again on Monday. His demeanor and testimony were in sharp contrast to that of the DOC witnesses. While the latter contradicted themselves repeatedly and made obvious attempts to cover up their own lies, Mumia was calm, self-assured and straightforward. Despite having to ascend the steps in leg shackles, he carried himself with complete dignity. He defended his constitutional rights to self-expression, noting that people on death row are perceived as "faceless, nameless beings who exist in the headlines of yesterday's newspaper." The commentaries were "a form of revelation of what prison really is as opposed to how it is reported in the press ... What I saw, what I heard, what I smelled, what I perceived around me. They were stories of despair and hopelessness on death row, stories of suicide, of people losing their way, of people getting tangled and not being able to get out."
Mumia explained that the NPR commentaries were "a window to my soul" and therefore a part of the battle to save his life. "Being aired on NPR, millions of people would have been involved in an intimate communication with me ... it was a two- way communication to humanize in a way the daily press couldn't." "Live >From Death Row" offered a way to help pay his lawyers. When asked on cross-examination if his lawyer had direct financial interest in his writing the book, Mumia replied, "To the extent that he has a direct financial interest in being my lawyer, yes." Mumia very clearly stated that he has absolutely zero confidence in being able to exchange confidential legal mail with his attorneys. "The security or confidentiality of my legal mail is, in a word, nonexistent ... I have no faith, no trust, no sense of security in (legal mail) - all of my mail, slit open outgoing, slit open incoming. I believe that mail I sent to you (Jere Krakoff, counsel for this civil case) was interfered with because I sent you a letter and you didn't get it."
The Commonwealth had little in the way of cross- examination. They seemed eager to get this well-spoken, intelligent, honest and very *human* prisoner off the stand. Their defense consisted of two witnesses, Captain James Hassett who testified about the mail watch and disciplinary writeup, and Deputy Commissioner Thomas Fulcomer, one of the plaintiffs in this suit and former superintendent at SCI-Huntingdon from 1983-90. Fulcomer denied knowing that Mumia was writing articles at Huntingdon, although Mumia was published regularly in "The Juniatan", a publication out of Juniata College, just down the road. (The newspaper was mailed regularly to the prison.) He defended the policy against prisoners engaging in a business or profession, saying that rules had to be across the board and "it would be impossible to allow every inmate to have a business or profession .. it would divert valuable resources ... they'd be giving their loyalty elsewhere and not listening to our own rules and regulations!"
Commonwealth attorney Thomas Halloran questioned Hassett about the "atmosphere of the institution and inmates" since the publicity around "Live From Death Row" and the civil suit. "There's an awareness of what Mr. Jamal has been doing and a sense of interest among other inmates to pursue the same types of activities," he answered. He said the guards are involved in "answering questions about how to do what Jamal did, how to get news media." Time to break the silence.
The hearings officially concluded on Monday, October 16. Each side has thirty days from the date the transcripts are filed, to submit proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. Subsequently, Magistrate Judge Benson will make a recommendation to Federal District Judge Ambrose who will rule on the motion for a preliminary injunction. Already, amicus briefs have been filed by the ACLU, individual attorneys and journalists as well as by several journalist organizations (Society of Professional Journalists, National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, American Society of Newspaper Editors, the Reports Committee for Freedom of the Press and the Asian American Journalists Association).
Media coverage was minimal, and sources say the Fraternal Order of Police had a hand in keeping Philadelphia journalists away. The Associated Press had a reporter there full time. Both the Pittsburgh papers ran quite decent stories on the weekend. Local TV and radio coverage was almost nonexistent. One can't help draw conclusions when the media chooses to boycott a controversial story dealing with First Amendment rights. We hope the journalists who filed amicus briefs will insist on giving this case the media attention it deserves.
Mumia Index | Mumia Events | R&R Main Page
Contact Refuse
& Resist!
305 Madison Ave., Suite 1166, New York, NY 10165
Phone: 212-713-5657
email: info@refuseandresist.org