BTR News: Federal Courts Keep US Held Political Prisoner’s Hepatitis C Case Alive

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BTR News – Ruling Keeps Alive Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Lawsuit Over Hepatitis Drugs

The Facts and Key Points

News reports have been filed on the news wire reporting that a federal appeals court kept alive a lawsuit brought by Mumia Abu-Jamal, recognized the world over as a political prisoner wrongfully convicted of the 1981 killing of a Philidelphia cop serving in a police department rife with racism and known for brutality against non-white people.

Abu-Jamal’s lawsuit alleges his rights were violated when he was denied hepatitis C drugs that are a known cure for the disease that is disproportionately high among prisoners across the United States. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower-court decision that Pennsylvania Corrections Department employees were not immune to being sued over their decisions regarding Abu-Jamal.

The three-judge federal panel ruled there are sufficient grounds to support his claim that his constitutional rights were violated when he was denied appropriate medical treatment for a nonmedical reason, the high cost of the drugs.

In November of 2018, the Pennsylvania’s Corrections Department announced it was moving to settle a separate lawsuit by providing a prescription drug treatment regimen for prisoners who suffer from chronic hepatitis C infections which are disproportionately higher in prisons and once released back to the outside world, have the potential of spreading the infection among the general public.

What potential impact could the case have on potentially millions of prisoners and possibly former prisoners who contracted hepatitis C infections while incarcerated?