Journalism in Hell

Long-term US Death Row inmate and former Philadelphia president of the Association of Black Journalists Mumia Abu Jamal has released his latest article commenting on his role of reporting the unreported behind bars. An excerpt is below. Abu Jamal's latest book, Jailhouse lawyers: prisoners defending prisoners against the USA, can be ordered from City Lights

I’ve written of unjust and improper prosecutions, harrowing brutality, stunning institutional boneheadedness, and cruelty that would curdle milk.

In 1995, I was institutionally sanctioned for “engaging in the business of journalism.” It took years of legal wrangling, including sitting in a courtroom for several weeks, in shackles so tight that one’s ankles were swollen and bleeding, to finally prevail on the principle that the U.S. constitution’s 1st Amendment protected such activity, but it was well worth the battle (the case was: Abu-Jamal v. Price).

For years, writing a story meant, quite literally, writing a story. With an ink pen. On a legal pad. Sometimes with a 4-inch long flex-pen (this is a pen which has in inner tube of an ink pen, but the shaft is composed of see-through rubber, with a rubber cap at both ends, one allowing the 1/2–centimeter tip to protrude). It has been likened to writing with a wet noodle. Two of my books were written with these instruments, and then sent out to be typed by friends or editors.

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