H. Rap Brown In Declining Health; Supporters Demand Medical Attention
By Harold Michael Harvey, J.D.
"The 1960s radical H. Rap Brown, currently serving a life sentence without parole for the murder of a Fulton County, Georgia Deputy Sheriff, is now facing deteriorating health issues.
Brown, a 70-year-old Muslim cleric, now goes by the name of Jamil Al-Amin. He is serving time at a federal institution, the ADX Florence Supermax Prison in Florence, Colorado, despite being convicted of state crimes.
According to a statement released by the National Black Alliance Network, Al-Amin “needs emergency medical care without delay, in accordance with federal prison standards. His life is at risk.”
This week, NBAN released an update of Al-Amin’s status. As of Sunday night, June 8, 2014, Al-Amin suffered from an abscess on each side of his mouth, which has caused “… an inability to breathe and the total shutdown of his body.”
A dentist recently removed a broken tooth and Al-Amin is unable to eat. He is reported to be too weak to walk and his feet are swollen on both the top and the bottom.
Al-Amin’s supporters contend that he has not received adequate medical treatment. They cite a recent visit by a physician of Nigerian lineage, who “talked to him through a cell door.”
Supporters are calling for mass protests and for a telephone campaign to demand that Al-Amin receive adequate medical attention. On Monday of this week, the group held a rally in front of the Bureau of Prisons headquarters in the District of Columbia.
El-Hajj Mauri’ Saalakhan said his group has three demands for the BOP: 1. “Immediate medical attention for inmate Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (Reg # 99974-555)”
2. “A transfer to the prison medical facility located in Butner, North Carolina”
3. “A review of imprisonment policies relevant to the prisoners being housed under extraordinary conditions, such as the Supermax in Florence, Colorado, and the so-called ‘Controlled Management Units’ in different parts of the country.”
Al-Amin, who once said that “violence is as American as apple pie,” has been in jail since March 24, 2000. He was arrested in the shooting death of a Fulton County, Georgia Deputy Sheriff, who was attempting to serve an arrest warrant issued by a Cobb County, Georgia judge. He was apprehended dressed in full-body armor, in Green County, Alabama, where he had organized voter rights marches in the mid-1960s as Chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. In the vicinity of his arrest, the authorities found, his bullet-riddled automobile and two guns later linked to the death of the Deputy Sheriff. After his conviction, Al-Amin was initially housed in a maximum security facility in Georgia, but in 2007, state prison authorities feared they could not withstand an escape attempt, and he was whisked away via helicopter in the middle of the night to the Supermax in Colorado.
His supporters counter that Al-Amin had become very popular with the other inmates and the Georgia authorities feared Al-Amin, ever the community organizer, would lead an inmate protest over living conditions. For the past seven years, Al-Amin has been subjected to enforced isolation and its twin, “sensory deprivation,” from the lack of adequate sunlight. During a brief period of time, when SNCC had joined forces with the Black Panther Party, Al-Amin served the group as Minister of Justice. Now his followers are seeking justice in the manner in which his medical condition is being treated.
Harold Michael Harvey, JD, is the author of the legal thriller “Paper Puzzle,” available at Amazon." (http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/17256501-h-rap-brown-in-declining-health-supporters-demand-medical-attention)
CONTINUE TO CALL, WRITE, FAX:
- Call and leave a message requesting a comprehensive medical exam - for Jamil Al-Amin #99974-555 (719) 784-9464
- E-mail a request to: FLM/ExecAssistant@bop.gov
- Write And Fax The Warden – Include Jamil Al-Amin #99974-555 - P.O. Box 8500 - Florence, Colorado 81226
- Fax (719) 784-5290
No comments:
Post a Comment