Death Row Hunger Strike 
by Mumia Abu-Jamal 
March 13, 1998 

On March 5th , 1998, the State staged an early morning raid on the best behaved unit in its prison - Death Row. While they did not attack the men themselves, they did attack personal, mental, educational and legal property. Books, underwear, sweat suits, footwear7 ink pens, cosmetics, letters - everything was stripped from all Men were given two choices. Ship or destroy. if any property could not fit into a standard record box, it could not be kept Visits were halted, commissary food items excluded, recreational equipment forbidden All of this is an administrative response to the alleged constitutionally protected exercise by some jail house lawyers on their right to sue. It is administrative retaliation. 

On Friday, over 25 men elected to stage a hunger strike. By Tuesday of this week, over 30 had engaged in this strike. what we are seeing is what scholar Robert Johnson noted: as the treatment of all death row units in the United States; the intentional premeditated assault on the meager 'privileges' accorded Death Row inmates, designed to plunge them over the brink of despair. 

To a man or a woman faced literally with months or weeks of life, a visit with a loved one who must travel hundreds of miles is hardly a frivolous thing. The ability to draw or paint a picture for a grandchild can hardly be called petty. The human aspiration to attain knowledge of the world around one which serves to broaden the spirit under the new regime - "ist verboten" [is forbidden]. when the State built this bright, shiny hell, it promised to all men on Death Row a more relaxed, less repressive population setting at the new SCI Greene Institution. That was a lie then. It has surely been exposed as a lie now. When the State systematically seeks to secure the death of hope, it reveals its true underlying object - the death of men. Those of you who believe in the liberating power of life are needed to raise your voice in dissent now. After over a week into this hunger strike, some men are understandably weakened. It is not an easy thing to strike alone, isolated, in virtual silence. But your support allows them to endure. I will keep you informed. 

Ona Move-- LLJA! Mumia Abu Jamal