[grc] Prgm avail: Denial of hepatitis C treatment to Mumia and other incarcerated people

[Bob Lederer]

This program is available for replay at:
http://audioport.org/index.php?op=program-info&program_id=88490
It runs 55:55, ending with 40 seconds of music.

It will still be relevant over the next month or so.

Please let me know if there are any problems.

Thanks,
Bob Lederer
Co-producer/co-host, Health Action, WBAI


****** Please forward widely ****

On Mon., Sept. 7 (Labor Day) from 1-2 PM Eastern time
Tune into WBAI Radio's Health Action program*:
*Denial of Hepatitis C Treatment in Prison
/Including://
* General blockage of access by incarcerated people to 
unconscionably-priced curative hepatitis C drugs
* Mumia Abu-Jamal's lawsuit demanding hepatitis C treatment
* The successful struggle to get hepatitis C treatment for former Black 
Panther Robert Seth Hayes/**(incarcerated in NY State)
**
*In the NY/NJ/CT area, you can hear WBAI at 99.5 FM.
Anywhere, you can stream WBAI live at_http://www.wbai.org/playernew.html_.
WBAI live streams are also available via a Pacifica app that works on 
the iPhone, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Links 
at_https://itunes.apple.com/app/id583381890?mt=8_

*If you miss the show*,go to the audio archive any time after the show 
for a downloadable file at_http://www.wbai.org/server-archive.html_ and 
scroll down to Mon., Sept. 7 at 1 PM.

--------------------------------

Guests:
*Victoria Law,* writer and editor covering incarceration, gender and 
resistance; author of /Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of 
Incarcerated Women/
*Dr. Suzanne Ross*, spokesperson for the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition 
and longtime activist for the freedom of U.S. political prisoners
*Ramona Africa*, spokesperson for the MOVE organization; representative, 
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal; former 
political prisoner and survivor of the U.S. government/Phila. police 
bombing of the MOVE family house in 1985
*Anne Lamb*, Co-Chair, New York Chapter of the Jericho Amnesty Movement

------------

In jails and prisons around the U.S., incarcerated people are being 
denied access to powerful new drugs (released over the past 18 months) 
for hepatitis C, a dangerous liver disease which is growing among poor 
people and especially rampant in prisons. The drugs have been showing 
remarkable cure rates -- 90-95% -- but the pharmaceutical manufacturers 
are charging upwards of $60,000-$85,000 for the 12-week course of 
treatment necessary to obtain these results. Prison authorities claim 
the cost is the reason for their refusal to follow the standard of care, 
but this withholding is just the latest in a long history of medical 
neglect and maltreatment of incacarcerated people nationwide.

In the case of political prisoners, a second, more insidious dynamic 
comes into play: The state and federal authorities' efforts to exploit 
the medical problems of these aging men and women to exacerbate their 
denial of care and medical mistreatment in order to purposely accelerate 
their deaths.

This can be seen most acutely in the mysterious, sudden deaths of 
previously healthy MOVE political prisoners Merle Africa, age 40 (1998) 
and Phil Africa, age 59 (Jan. 2015) -- and now the persistent pattern of 
denial of medical information and inappropriate medical care of Mumia 
Abu-Jamal, age 61. In early August, Mumia's attorneys filed a lawsuit 
challenging the Pennsylvania prison authorities' denial of medical care, 
including treatment for hepatitis C, and life-threatening mismanagement 
of his diabetes and extremely painful skin condition. This comes weeks 
after other incarcerated men in Pa. filed a class action suit against 
the Department of Corrections' refusal to prescribe the hep C drugs to 
those who need them.

On the positive side, after years of medical neglect, New York prison 
authorities in July finally responded after a long grassroots pressure 
campaign and began treating former Black Panther political prisoner 
Robert Seth Hayes, age 67, with the new drugs for his hepatitis C. This 
is a victory for him and the political prisoner support movement, but he 
still has other medical issues not being properly addressed, so the 
vigilance and pressure will have to continue.

Tune in for interviews with a journalist and several activists who have 
been active in efforts to expose and fight these medical injustices.

More information:

Hepatitis C is Common in Prisons, but Treatment Is Rare
By Victoria Law
http://www.thebody.com/content/76327/hepatitis-c-is-common-in-prisons-but-treatment-is-.html

Website of Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition/International Concerned Family 
and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
http://www.freemumia.com

Info on Robert Seth Hayes - website of The Jericho Movement
http://thejerichomovement.com/chapters/new-york-city