[Pnews] Judge Denies Hepatitis C Cure for Mumia Abu-Jamal, But Finds Lack of Care in Prison Unconstitutional
Prisoner News
ppnews at freedomarchives.org
Fri Sep 2 13:32:05 EDT 2016
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/9/2/judge_denies_hepatitis_c_cure_for
Judge Denies Hepatitis C Cure for Mumia Abu-Jamal, But Finds Lack of
Care in Prison Unconstitutional
Guests
Bob Boyle <http://www.democracynow.org/appearances/bob_boyle>
one of the attorneys for Mumia Abu-Jamal in his hepatitis C case.
Renee Feltz <http://www.democracynow.org/appearances/renee_feltz>
/Democracy Now!/ correspondent who also writes regularly for /The Guardian/.
A federal judge has denied a request from the former Black Panther and
journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal for life-saving medication that could cure
his hepatitis C. Last year, Mumia sued to receive an antiviral treatment
for hepatitis C after he was placed in critical condition, and officials
said he was was not sick enough to be eligible. The medication has about
a 95 percent cure rate. But it costs the state about $55,000 for a
12-week course of the drug. Even as the judge denied Mumia’s motion, he
also found that Pennsylvania’s hepatitis C protocol for inmates fails to
meet constitutional standards and could prolong suffering. We hear
reaction from Mumia Abu-Jamal and speak with his lawyer, Bob Boyle, and
correspondent Renée Feltz, who has covered these developments.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
*JUAN GONZÁLEZ:* We end today’s show with news that a federal judge has
denied a request from former Black Panther and journalist Mumia
Abu-Jamal for a life-saving medication that could cure his hepatitis C.
Mumia has been in prison in Pennsylvania since he was convicted of
killing a police officer in 1981. He always maintained his innocence,
and Amnesty International said he didn’t receive a fair trial. His death
sentence was overturned in 2011 on constitutional grounds, and he is now
serving life without parole. Last year, Mumia sued to receive an
antiviral treatment for hepatitis C, after he was placed in critical
condition and officials said he was not sick enough to be eligible. The
medication has about a 95 percent cure rate. But it costs the state
about $55,000 for a 12-week course of the drug.
*AMY GOODMAN:* On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Mariani
denied a motion for preliminary injunction that would have let him order
the treatment without going to trial. The denial was based on a
technicality that the lawsuit should have named the state’s hepatitis C
committee for prisoner treatment instead of targeting the warden and the
prison system’s medical chief. Even as the judge denied Mumia
Abu-Jamal’s motion, he also found that Pennsylvania’s hepatitis C
protocol for prisoners fails to meet constitutional standards and could
prolong suffering. Pennsylvania treats just about five of more than
6,000 prisoners who are infected with hepatitis C. This mirrors
untreated epidemics in prisons around the country.
Well, PrisonRadio.org spoke to Mumia Abu-Jamal after the judge’s ruling.
This is what Mumia said.
*MUMIA ABU-JAMAL:* It’s a good beginning that a federal judge
recognizes that what the commonwealth is doing, and has been doing
for years, is not only unjust, but not right, unconstitutional, a
violation of fundamental fairness and the human right to life. So,
it’s a beginning. It’s a good beginning. And we want a good ending.
*AMY GOODMAN:* For more, we’re joined by Bob Boyle, one of Mumia
Abu-Jamal’s attorneys in the case, and by /Democracy Now!/ correspondent
Renée Feltz, who also writes for /The Guardian/, where she covered these
developments.
Bob, explain, because the judge clearly was angered by what’s happening
to the prisoners, but ruled on this technicality.
*BOB BOYLE:* Yeah, the judge ruled that the Pennsylvania protocol for
treating hepatitis C is unconstitutional. Essentially, under their
policy, an inmate, a human being, has to be on the verge of death. Your
blood vessels have to be in danger of bursting inside your chest, before
you’re given this life-saving medication. And the judge found that this
is blatantly unconstitutional. He only ruled against us on the ground
that we did not name this so-called hepatitis C committee, this secret
group of people who meet in secret and decide whether someone gets this
drug. We did sue the warden, the head of the Pennsylvania Health
Department, and we did not even know of the existence of this committee
at the time we filed the lawsuit. So, it’s a technicality that we are
going to challenge and fight, until Mumia gets these—this life-saving
medication.
*JUAN GONZÁLEZ:* And 5,000 prisoners in Pennsylvania have hepatitis C,
but only five are receiving treatment?
*BOB BOYLE:* It’s probably closer to 6,000. And I think their latest
estimate, they’ve upped it all the way to 30, out of 6,000, who are
receiving this treatment. And it’s because this drug costs not just
$55,000, $84,000—$1,000 per pill. So, the Pennsylvania Department of
Corrections is acting in an unconstitutional manner in this regard, but
also it is unconscionable that drug companies—and it’s only because we
have the horrible health system that we have—can charge this amount of
money, which will save—denial of which will—could cause death.
*AMY GOODMAN:* But hepatitis C, if left untreated, leads to cirrhosis of
the liver, which costs even more to treat.
*BOB BOYLE:* And it’s also—absolutely, and causes death and irreversible
damage. And also, remember, hepatitis C is a communicable disease. So,
people come out of prison, by either sharing needles or sexual contact,
can pass the virus to other people, who then have hepatitis C and have
to be treated. So, it is an extremely shortsighted—and that’s really a
euphemism. It’s really criminal, what’s going on.
*AMY GOODMAN:* Renée Feltz, talk—put this in a national context.
*RENÉE FELTZ:* Well, it’s not just Pennsylvania that we’re talking
about. Almost every state across the country has thousands of inmates in
their prisons who have hepatitis C. Many of them don’t actually know
that they have it, because the prisons don’t provide testing. There have
been class-action lawsuits not only in Pennsylvania; in addition to what
Mumia and his attorneys have filed, there’s also class-action lawsuits
in Tennessee, where there is another limited number of prisoners who are
able to get the treatment, also in Massachusetts and also in Minnesota.
Now, New York, here, has done a little bit better. They’ve increased
their funding in the recent years by about 350 percent to provide these
life-saving hepatitis C drugs to prisoners, including, interestingly, to
Robert Seth Hayes, who is a former Black Panther and considered a
political prisoner. He was able to be cured of hep C when he got this
treatment here in New York. But he has still many, many other problems
with his health. He is elderly, and he’s still pushing to be granted
parole. He’s been denied 10 times.
*JUAN GONZÁLEZ:* But, Renée, what about this issue of the drug
companies? Because, obviously, for prisons, at this cost, the—and with
so many inmates suffering from hepatitis C, this is a budget buster for
a lot of prison systems.
*RENÉE FELTZ:* That’s right. Now, the company, Gilead, makes this drug,
and it was investigated by the Senate in 2014. And what they found, by
looking at the company’s own documents, is that the cost was not
determined by development or the cost of acquiring the drug. It was
simply to make money. And they weren’t concerned about the access, that
it would—the challenges it would present to access.
*BOB BOYLE:* I would add, in Egypt, for example, which isn’t subject to
U.S. patent laws, it costs about $100 a pill; $10 in India. So it’s only
in this country where it costs so much.
*AMY GOODMAN:* Well, we’re going to leave it there, but, of course,
we’ll continue to follow this story. Bob Boyle, attorney for Mumia
Abu-Jamal, and Renée Feltz, /Democracy Now!/ correspondent.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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