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Thousands of people gathered in the nation’s capital yesterday in an action called Occupy the Justice Department. The protest was organized on the 58th birthday of the political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal, whose commentaries are often heard on KPFK. While Abu Jamal was taken off death row earlier this year in a major victory for his supporters, he remains incarcerated indefinitely. Calling for further investigation into his case and his ultimate release, the activists also demanded an end to mass incarceration, solitary confinement and other forms of torture in prisons, as well as an increase in funding for jobs and education rather than prisons, and an end to the death penalty. Activists present drew attention to the killing of the Florida teen, Trayvon Martin, to highlight the overall racism and corruption they perceive in the Justice System. Among those who gathered were actor and activist Danny Glover, author Francis Fox Piven, and hip hop artist Talib Kweli. About two dozen protesters were arrested for “failing to disperse.”

Meanwhile, California prison officials released a reorganization plan on Monday that calls for halting a $4 billion prison construction program and transferring low-level offenders from state prisons to county jails. The officials are responding to this state’s chronic prison overpopulation problem that has led to inmates receiving inadequate medical attention, among other things. Monday’s plan came after a state court decision last year (which was upheld by the Supreme Court) ordering a reduction of California’s inmate population by 137.5% of prison capacity by a June 2013 deadline.

GUESTS: Noelle Hanrahan, director of Prison Radio. She edited Mumia Abu-Jamal’s book “All Things Censored” and for years has produced his recordings from death row and now from prison; Jamila Wilson, organizer with Occupy the Justice Department

Visit www.occupythejusticedepartment.com for more information, or call 215-600-6626.