In this video, Shakur discusses his ongoing struggle against medical neglect but remains resolute in organizing for the October 2023 People’s Tribunal on Virginia’s Prisons, Jails, and Detention Centers.
First proposed by the Virginia Prison Justice Network in March, the day-long event at the Greater Richmond Convention Center turned the tables, putting the real criminals on trial: the violent state apparatus. It was co-hosted by Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice, and Equality.
That day, first-hand testimonies on top of other forms of documentation provided irrefutable proof that Shakur’s narrative about incarceration is the truth. In their coverage, Virginia Public Radio included the words of Nathaniel Hollis Lamb, a captive at Sussex II State Prison.
“In here you see neglect at its most severe state. You have to kick the door for a man who is having a heart attack, for he is in a cell where the intercom doesn’t work. Once the booth officer becomes aware, then the next fight is finding a nurse due to shortness of staff. You see stabbings of the week stitching themselves up, because there is nowhere to go. Because there is no staffing, there is no recreation, programs, school, nobody to do rounds. We are left to our own devices. It’s prisoners who notify staff of overdoses or seizures. It’s prisoners who are the first responders and render first aid with no medical training.”
Shakur also spoke at the Tribunal on behalf of the New Afrikan Liberation Collective, of which he is Co-Founder.
