BY KATE DAHER
PITTSBURGH - A civil suit hearing into charges that prison officials violated death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal's rights to legal counsel and access to the media began here September 5.
Abu-Jamal was convicted in 1982 of killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner and has been on death row for the past nine years. On August 7, Common Pleas judge Albert Sabo issued a temporary stay of execution as national and international pressure calling for a new trial and lifting of his execution mounted.
According to the suit, prison officials unlawfully confiscated and photocopied Abu-Jamal's legal mail; denied him access to paralegals functioning on behalf of his chief- counsel, Leonard Weinglass; and illegally filed disciplinary charges against him in retaliation for the publication of his book Live From Death Row.
Weinglass, who has represented Abu-Jamal for the last three years, was the first witness called. He explained that the paralegals have not been able to meet with Abu-Jamal since February, when the Department of Corrections (DOC) reversed its earlier practice of allowing visitations and demanded that the paralegals supply proof of credentials or employment. "There is no provision to license paralegals in the state of Pennsylvania," Weinglass stated.
Weinglass, who is a New York-based attorney, relied on the paralegals to ensure lawyer-client confidentiality. The suit charges that documents sent by mail were opened and "...confiscated by prison personnel without justification."
A Friend of the Court brief filed by the state American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Abu-Jamal says the DOC's policy to deny prisoners access to the media acts to "...chill free expression.
"Such a chill works to the great disadvantage of the general public by suppressing prisoners' artistic expressions, as well as valuable information about the operation of Pennsylvania's prisons," the brief states.
A second Friend of the Court brief filed by Prison Radio Project, Nation magazine, and author John Edgar Wideman, challenges the violation of Abu-Jamal's constitutional rights to meet with journalists. The brief charges that "...the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections not only have violated his [Abu-Jamal's] First Amendment rights, but also have unconstitutionally denied the public access to vital information about perhaps the most controversial issue of our day - the death penalty and its targets."
About a dozen or so supporters from Philadelphia traveled to Pittsburgh to attend the hearings, which are expected to last three days, and to help build solidarity for Abu-Jamal in the Pittsburgh area. Nearly 75 people turned out at a rally held on the University of Pittsburgh campus. "This is not just about Mumia," said Pam Africa, addressing the audience. "It is about what they do to people every day." Referring to the public outcry against his execution she added, "Mumia has put a face on the death penalty in this country."
Also speaking were South African poet Dennis Brutus, Noelle Hanrahan from the Prison Radio Project, Mumia Abu- Jamal's son Jamal, and Pittsburgh defense committee representative and paralegal Jamilla Levi.