Mumia Abu-Jamal: "The United States is Fast Becoming One of the Biggest Open-Air Prisons on Earth"

DemocracyNow.org - In a rare live interview, Mumia Abu-Jamal calls into Democracy Now! as the new film, "Long Distance Revolutionary," about his life premieres in New York City this weekend. After 29 years on death row, he is now being held in general population at the Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution -- Mahanoy. "How free are we today, for those who claim to be non-prisoners? Your computers are being read by others in government. Your letters and phone calls are being intercepted," says Mumia Abu-Jamal. "We live now in a national security state, where the United States is fast becoming one of the biggest open-air prisons on Earth. We can speak about freedom, and the United States has a long and distinguished history of talking about freedom, but have we sampled freedom? I think the answer should be very clear: We have not." In 1982, Mumia was sentenced to die for killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. He has always maintained his innocence and is perhaps America's most famous political prisoner. In 2011, an appeals court upheld his conviction, but also vacated his death sentence it found jurors were given confusing instructions.

Watch the Democracy Now! interview with Steve Vittoria, director of the new documentary, "Long Distance RevolutionaryA Journey with Mumia AbuJamal," and Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio

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