Messing with Major

by Mumia Abu-Jamal

His name is Major (his real name), Major Tillery of West Philadelphia.

Major-Tillery-225x300, Messing with Major, Abolition Now!
Major Tillery

Although he had a reputation as a gangster, in prison such things matter little. It’s as a jailhouse lawyer that he shook the prison walls in the case known as Tillery v. Owens, a ground-breaking prison conditions case where double-dealing – or the placement of four men in a cell – was declared unconstitutional. The prison medical department was declared unconstitutional, and living conditions in part of the prison were declared a violation of the constitution.

Shortly after his glorious win, Major Tillery was sent to a prison in another state. Retaliation? Sure looks like it.

Several months ago, Major saw me in the library and expressed shock at my appearance, my carriage and my level of wakefulness. He argued with me, insisting I go to the prison infirmary.

I resisted, saying I was OK, or would be in a few days. Major said, “Dude, I’m looking at you. Your skin is shedding; you are so tired you can’t stay awake. You ain’t cool, Mu!”

He went further. He walked up to the prison superintendent, warning him that if Jamal wasn’t hospitalized immediately, he might die.

The warden responded, “I suggest you worry less about another prisoner and more about yourself.”

Major responded immediately: “That’s what I’m doing, cuz that’s my brother – and I want for my brother what I want for myself!”

From that day forward, Tillery was hit by daily harassments, daily shakedowns; and he was removed from his job of peer facilitator.

He walked up to the prison superintendent, warning him that if Jamal wasn’t hospitalized immediately, he might die.

He was transferred – first to the other side of the prison and, soon thereafter, to nearby SCI Frackville. Once there, he got another surprise: He received a misconduct for drug-trafficking (of suboxone), using stamps. He was given six months in the hole!

Here’s the only problem with such a charge. At Frackville, as here in Mahanoy, all stamps are ripped off of envelopes by the mailroom before prisoners receive their mail.

Tillery demanded he be charged by the State Police to prove the falsity of the charge. The prison refused to do so. Retaliation? Sure looks like it.

To make matters worse, Major Tillery and dozens of other men are also suffering from skin rashes and getting little relief.

Major is in the hole not because of drugs, but because of something prison administrators hate and fear above all things: prisoner unity, prisoner solidarity.

Major is in the hole not because of drugs, but because of something prison administrators hate and fear above all things: prisoner unity, prisoner solidarity.

On Sept. 5, 2015, Tillery turned 65 years old, in the hole as blatant retaliation.

© Copyright 2015 Mumia Abu-Jamal. Keep updated at www.freemumia.com. His new book is “Writing on the Wall,” edited by Joanna Hernandez. For Mumia’s commentaries, visit www.prisonradio.org. Encourage the media to publish and broadcast Mumia’s commentaries and interviews. Send our brotha some love and light: Mumia Abu-Jamal, AM 8335, SCI-Mahanoy, 301 Morea Road, Frackville, PA 17932.

Major Tillery stood up for Mumia, was thrown in the hole but after protests, the prison backed down

by Kamilah Iddeen, Nancy Lockhart and Rachel Wolkenstein, Esq.

Major George Tillery is a Pennsylvania lifer, 65, who confronted SCI Mahanoy Superintendent John Kerestes over Mumia Abu-Jamal’s deteriorating health. Weeks before Mumia went into diabetic shock, elder Tillery told the Mahanoy superintendent to get Mumia to the hospital, stating, “Mumia is dying.”

Prison authorities retaliated against Major Tillery – repeatedly ransacked his cell and denied him medical treatment for seeking medical assistance for Mumia and other prisoners. Tillery was transferred to SCI Frackville and then falsely charged with drug possession, disciplined and given six months in “the hole” (RHU) – solitary confinement without phone calls, commissary or medical attention.

On Sept. 1, after international protest and demands were made to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel and SCI Frackville Superintendent Brenda Tritt, Major Tillery was moved back into general population at SCI Frackville. Tillery spent four months in horrific and life-threatening conditions in the hole for his act of solidarity with Mumia and other prisoners, challenging the pervasive medical neglect and mistreatment in prison.

In a call to attorney Rachel Wolkenstein, Major Tillery thanked all those who showed their support and protested this retaliation. He told Superintendent Tritt that he wanted full exoneration of these false charges. The prison will use this misconduct record against him in the future to send him back to the hole. He asked for continued action.

Tillery spent four months in horrific and life-threatening conditions in the hole for his act of solidarity with Mumia and other prisoners, challenging the pervasive medical neglect and mistreatment in prison.

Call prison officials and demand that:

  • Major Tillery be exonerated for this set-up charge of drug possession and the misconduct be removed from his record.
  • Major Tillery be transferred back to SCI Mahanoy or to another facility in eastern Pennsylvania to remain near his family.
  • Major Tillery be given medical treatment for his severe skin ailment.

Call Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel at 717-728-4109 and Superintendent Brenda Tritt, SCI Frackville, at 570-874-4516.

And write to Major Tillery, AM 9786, SCI Frackville, 1111 Altamont Blvd., Frackville, Pa. 17931.

For more information, go to Justice4MajorTillery/blogspot. Contact Kamilah Iddeen, Major Tillery’s daughter, at Kamilah29@yahoo.com; Nancy Lockhart at thewrongfulconviction@gmail.com; and Rachel Wolkenstein, Esq., at RachelWolkenstein@gmail.com.

Killing Mumia!

by Keith “Malik” Washington, deputy chairman of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party Prison Chapter Texas Region

I recently received detailed information which exposes the underlying reasons behind Comrade Mumia Abu-Jamal’s medical crisis. Hepatitis C can be fatal, but in our age of advanced medical technology Hepatitis C and other diseases cannot only be managed, they can be cured!

The main story here is that the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has conspired to murder Mumia! This is not hyperbole or conjecture. These are the facts, and I am very confident that Brett Grote of the Abolitionist Law Center and Robert J. Boyle of New York City will shed light in a court of law on the deliberate indifference, medical neglect and conspiracy to commit murder perpetrated by Pennsylvania DOC employees.

There is no sense in sugar-coating or downplaying what is going on here. We must not allow this situation to be covered up. Somebody knew Mumia was sick! I don’t believe this was a mistake or an accident – oh no, they knew exactly what they are doing.

The main story here is that the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has conspired to murder Mumia!

I said this once and I will say it again: There is coordinated effort spanning the United States to silence and exterminate the most advanced political elements in our movements who speak truth to power. The sad reality is that many of our most gifted minds are trapped in Amerikkkan prisons and jails.

You see these hypocrites screaming about human rights and justice when a foreign government has wasted human life or murdered its citizens. Let me tell you something. Amerikkka is killing Mumia!

This is not some foreign occupier doing the killing, it’s Amerikkka. They have perfected the art of murdering the lumpen (broken) underclass on Amerika’s streets and inside its prison slave camps and modern day gulags.

We know that there is a cure for the disease of imperialism which is eating the entire world alive. We must demand that Mumia be given the lifesaving medication and then we must get serious about demanding that the United States of Amerika release Mumia.

And if they won’t release Mumia? Then possibly we can lobby for a transfer of Mumia to a country that respects the rights of human beings, a country which does not allow prison officials to conspire to kill the prisoners in their care – a country that does not pawn itself off as the champion of the downtrodden when in reality it funds programs that murder innocents by remote control and protects rogue, racist police who murder its citizens in the streets.

We must demand that Mumia be given the lifesaving medication and then we must get serious about demanding that the United States of Amerika release Mumia.

You can’t kill Mumia! I am Mumia! Kevin “Rashid” Johnson Is Mumia! Lynne Stewart is Mumia! Noelle Hanrahan is Mumia! Angela Y. Davis is Mumia! Jamil Al Amin, Sekou Odinga, Carole Seligman, Victor Wallis, Johanna Fernandez, Laura Whitehorn, Salim Holbook, Mutope Duguma, Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa – you can’t silence nor murder all of us! We will fight for Mumia’s freedom till death overtakes us!

Dare to struggle. Dare to win. All power to the people.

Keith “Malik” Washington was just recently denied parole for the fourth time. The board cited that he had not done enough time, though he has served seven and a half years and his good time and work time total 15 years toward his 20-year sentence. Good time and work time in Texas is a scam! Malik was denied parole because he continues to fearlessly speak truth to power! Send our brother some love and light: Keith “Malik” Washington, 1487958, Wallace Pack Unit (P1), 2400 Wallace Pack Road, Navasota, TX 77868 (written by supporter Heinz Leitner in Austria).