9 November 2007

Jamal Hart Wins Prison Transfer

After months of harassment and provocations, Jamal Hart, son of death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, has been transferred to the federal prison in Loretto, Pennsylvania, a low-security facility. Hart was sentenced in 1998 to 15 1/2 years on bogus firearms possession charges. A recipient of the Partisan Defense Committee program of monthly stipends to class-war prisoners, Hart was framed up for his prominent activism in the campaign to free his father.

Hart’s transfer from the FCI Schuylkill prison was held up for many months because his security level had been manipulated. This was the work of Case Manager Walter Whalen, who made his motivation clear by prominently displaying inside the prison a Fraternal Order of Police poster condemning Mumia. The harassment was stepped up when Hart filed an appeal after the February denial of his habeas corpus petition which, if granted, would have freed him. In April, Hart was thrown into solitary for a month. After his release from solitary, he continued to be denied all non-legal personal visits and phone calls. Hart’s habeas appeal was denied by the same Third Circuit Court of Appeals that is currently considering Mumia’s appeal. Free Jamal Hart! Free Mumia!

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You can write to Jamal Hart at: Jamal Hart #50597-066, FCI Loretto, Federal Correctional Institution, P.O. Box 1000, Loretto, PA 15940.

(reprinted from Workers Vanguard No. 902, 9 November 2007)

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