Jalil Abdul Muntaqim, Prisoner of War
Jalil was 19 years old when he was arrested. He is a former member of
the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. For the past 32
years, Jalil has been a political prisoner, and one of the New York
Three
(NY3), in retaliation for his activism in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Jalil was born October 18, 1951, in Oakland, CA. His early years were
spent in San Francisco. Jalil attended high school in San Jose, CA,
where he earned a scholarship to an advanced high school math and
science program. He also received a summer scholarship for a San Jose
State College math and engineering course. Jalil participated in NAACP
youth organizing during the civil rights movement. In high school, he
became a leading member of the Black Student Union, often touring in
"speak-outs" with the BSU Chairman of San Jose State and City College.
After the assassination of Dr. King, Jalil began to believe a more
militant response to racism and injustice was necessary. He began to
look towards the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense for leadership.
After
moving back to San Francisco from San Jose, he was recruited into the
BPP
by old elementary school friends who had since become Panthers.
Two months shy of his 20th birthday, Jalil was captured along with
Albert “Nuh” Washington in a midnight shoot-out with San Francisco
police. When Jalil was arrested, he was a high school graduate and
employed as a social worker.
While in San Quentin prison in California in 1976 before being moved to
New York, Jalil launched the National Prisoners Campaign to Petition
the United Nations to recognize the existence of political prisoners in
the United States. Progressives nationwide joined this effort, and the
petition was submitted in Geneva, Switzerland. This led to Lennox Hinds
and the National Conference of Black Lawyers having the UN
International Commission of
Jurists tour U.S. prisons and speak with specific political prisoners.
The International Commission of Jurists then reported that political
prisoners
did in fact exist in the United States.
Jalil put out the call for the Jericho March on Washington in Spring
1998, which was answered by over 6,000 supporters demanding recognition
of and amnesty for U.S. political prisoners. The Jericho Amnesty
Movement (JAM) aims to gain the recognition by the U.S. government and
the United Nations that political prisoners exist in this country, and
that on the basis of international law, they should be granted amnesty
because of the political nature of their cases.
Since in New York prisons, Jalil wrote and submitted a legislative bill
for prisoners with life sentences to receive good time off their
minimum sentences. This bill was introduced to the NYS Assembly
Committee on Corrections. Jalil has filed numerous lawsuits on behalf
of prisoners.
Jalil has received awards of appreciation from Jaycee's, NAACP,
and Project Build for his active participation and leadership. After
many years of being denied the opportunity to attend college, Jalil
graduated
from SUNY-New Paltz with a BS in Psychology and a BA in Sociology in
1994.
He would like to pursue his Masters degree, but has not been allowed by
DOCS.
During his imprisonment, Jalil has become a father and a grandfather.
He states, "I came to prison an expectant father and will leave prison
a grandfather."
Jalil has worked as an educator of other inmates and practices
organizing and advocacy whenever possible to ensure the most adequate,
humane treatment for all people. He has been repeatedly punished for
these activities, through physical abuse, formal discipline, and
numerous prison transfers. Jalil is presently working to develop a
National Prisoners Afrikan Studies Project (NPASP), a new non-profit
organization dedicated to educating prisoners.
To read Jalil's 2009 New Year's Greeting,
please click here!
To see a sample letter you can
use as a model when writing the New York Governor to support Jalil's
application to have his sentence commuted, click here!
For more information about Jalil Muntaqim, please visit his website:
Jalil Muntaqim:
A Voice of Liberation
please note that this video interview is also available on the Freedom Archives DVD Voices of Three Political Prisoners, available via Leftwingbooks.net
Part 1 (9:58 minutes)
Part Two (9:37 minutes)
Partial List of Writings by Jalil Muntaqim available online
- "The Cold War of the 90's" in Issue #52 of Prison News Service, Sept. - Oct. 1995.
- "The Criminalization of Poverty" is a chapter of Schooling the Generations in the Politics of Prison , edited by Chinosole (Berkeley, CA: New Earth Publications, 1996).
- "America Reaps What it Sows" , commentary on the September 11th attacks in the United States
- Reparations In Our Lifetime! June 22 2001
- A Political Prisoner’s Journey in the
U.S. Prison System, written in 2005
Please
note that a much more complete list of Jalil's writings is available on
the Free Jalil! website
The New York Three
A pdf version of this and other information regarding the New York 3 and Jalil Muntaqim can be viewed or downloaded by clicking here (30K)
A fifteen page package of documents pertaining to police and FBI
conduct in this case can be viewed in PDF format by clicking
here (1.7 megs)
See also:
