by douglas reeser on 1.7.2010We just came across this interview with Mumia Abu Jamal (listen below) conducted by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio in December of 2009 -on the day that marked Mumia's 29th year in federal prison. It's a relatively short talk (~6 minutes), but Mumia touches on a number of important issues. He scoffs at common misperceptions of prison that portray the experience in a way like the popular television show, Oz. Instead he calls prison "a hidden world that is meant to be hidden", and declares that life in a federal prison in the US is akin to Abu Ghraib, the famed Iraqi prison. He describes the US as being in the throes of a "Prison Industrial Complex", in which a new prison is opened every week, and more resources are flowing toward incarceration then things like education and health care. This increase in incarceration is taking place even while crime rates have dropped across the US since the early 1990s. Mumia also references an insightful article, titled "The Penal State in the Age of Crisis", that details these realities, and which you can read at the Monthly Review. He further explains that "whoever owns the media will determine what stories will be told", and the stories of the poor and dispossessed remain hidden and untold. This is why he continues to write and speak out - even after 29 years confined in federal prison. Check out the interview:
Read and learn more about Mumia and his thoughts, and listen to a number of newer and older broadcasts at Prison Radio>>>
If you're using Firefox, divshare does not seem to work, so you can listen to the interview here>>>
Thanks for posting this interview. It's important that his voice is heard.
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