Defending Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Right to Knowledge and Freedom

Mumia Abu-Jamal

 

By Tommy Pham, Prison Radio Staff Member

For over three decades, Mumia Abu-Jamal has been at the heart of Prison Radio’s mission. An accomplished journalist before his incarceration, news director at WDAS and news and cultural reporter at NPR’s WUHY (now WHYY), Mumia has redefined journalism from behind bars, producing powerful radio essays that expose systemic injustices. Since 1992, Prison Radio has been his colleagues, his producers and publishers: broadcasting his voice to the world. As censorship and retaliation have intensified, we’ve also taken a stand as organizers and legal advocates, fighting for his freedom and humanity.

Today, we face a new battle: SCI Mahanoy’s war on Mumia’s life of the mind and on his tools: books and papers. Imprisoned for 43 years serving a Death by Incarceration (DBI) (Life Without Parole), Mumia has endured relentless attempts to strip him of nourishment, fresh air, healthy food, and intellectual sustenance. During his 29 years on death row, he was limited to just seven books at a time, forced to choose between works like Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon and Vincent Harding’s There Is a River. Unable to have all of the books he has written, even. Now, SCI Mahanoy’s new policy restricts prisoners to possessions fitting within four small 10x16x10-inch record boxes, a punitive, retaliatory measure aimed at silencing Mumia, a scholar and activist who is currently writing his PhD dissertation.

This arbitrary and punishing restriction threatens Mumia’s intellectual lifeline. His books and papers are not just possessions; they are tools for his prodigious scholarship and resistance. As Mumia stated during a visit with Selma James, Nina Lopez, and Noelle Hanrahan, Esq. on April 17, 2025, “They would rather have a censored and silent Mumia Abu-Jamal.” We are committed to breaking down his isolation and we are fighting for his liberation.

Prison Radio is stepping in at his request, managing the boxes of his materials and shipping his books to his PhD advisor at UC Santa Cruz and his papers to his archives at Brown University. Our team, including dedicated interns are meticulously cataloging his library into a spreadsheet to ensure he can access specific books as needed for his dissertation, which he is nearing completion, sending how to mail Mumia to those whose mail sent to SCI Mahanoy has been returned to sender, and making sure those that right to Mumia are getting information about the campaign for freedom.

Our crew of fabulous interns in Philadelphia. Well, only about half of them! We have nine full-time interns.

Photo credits: Noel Hanrahan/Prison Radio