Philadelphia: ‘Info Session’ on unjust imprisonments

Philadelphia

As of March 3, Jerome “Hoagie” Coffey will have been unjustly imprisoned for 32 years. An important solidarity event described as an “Info Session” on the status of his case was held in Philadelphia on March 1 at the Cedar Works Community Center. Over 60 people attended the program.

When Jerome Coffey was 16 years old, he was charged with assaulting a police officer and received probation. Nine years later the same detectives who arrested him at 16 pinned an unsolved case on him.

In 1993, Coffey was arrested for second-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Johnny Moss, despite a total lack of evidence connecting him to the murder and a mountain of evidence demonstrating his innocence. He was at his sister’s home when the murder took place. In Pennsylvania, a conviction for second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence without an option of parole.

Coffey did not match the initial description given by an eyewitness on the night of the shooting of Moss. Police tampered with the suspect lineup, telling one witness to pick out Coffey. Since his trial, four witnesses admitted that their sworn statements were false and that they had been coerced by the police and prosecution, who failed to hand over witnesses’ recantations and other evidence to Coffey’s attorney.

Pages of his original trial transcripts are missing and cannot be found. One of the public defenders assigned to Coffey, who never even bothered to meet him, nevertheless filed paperwork quoting him.

Throughout his unjust imprisonment, Coffey has been placed in solitary confinement and denied visits and phone calls with his family. His case is currently under appeal, with human rights advocate attorney Rupalee Rashatwar of the Abolitionist Law Center (ALC) handling his case.

At the March 1 event, Rashatwar provided an update on the appeal, while Coffey’s niece, 14-year-old Tianna Coffey, gave detailed background information on the case.

Free Rasheed Malcolm!

While incarcerated, Coffey helped co-found the Human Rights Coalition, a grassroots group of prisoners and their families, ex-offenders and supporters. At Coffey’s insistence, the March 1 event was not just about his case. Family members and representatives of other prisoners were present and able to provide information.

Sista Rasheeda Yates spoke of the fight to liberate her son Rasheed Malcolm, who was assaulted by Philadelphia 19th District police on April 19, 2019. To cover up the assault, police filed false criminal charges against Malcolm that were dismissed over police misconduct. Yet five months later, in retaliation, on Sept. 5, 2019, 19th District police arrested Malcolm for the unsolved murder of Kevin Harris on Dec. 22, 2018.

Coffey has acted as a pro se litigator and a mentor for Malcolm, teaching him how to file grievances and submit the paperwork in the litigation of his case. When his case was accepted and a court hearing was scheduled, it was a big win for Coffey and the ALC.

Malcolm has received support in challenging his conviction from the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, the Defender Association of Philadelphia and others. Oral arguments in Malcolm’s appeal are scheduled to be heard before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Philadelphia City Hall, Room #468 on March 5.

This is the first case under District Attorney Larry Krasner’s administration charging the Philadelphia Police department’s 19th District with twice falsifying criminal charges against Malcolm. It also challenges the politicized attack made by the former U.S. Attorney William McSwain about Krasner’s release of 10 people whose convictions were based on false police evidence.

Close SCI Fayette

Marvina Williams presented information on the fight to free David “D.H.” Henry, who has spent three decades in solitary confinement under the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. B.P. Lyles, who is the director of the Toxic Prisons Committee, a branch of HRC, described the fight to close SCI Fayette, where unresolved toxic conditions have led to numerous prisoner deaths from cancers. (workers.org/2025/02/83805/)

University of Pennsylvania Law student Lolo Serrano discussed the dangerous executive order signed by Donald Trump in January that would allow federal prisons to move trans women to men’s facilities. The order, signed by Trump in his first few hours in office, insultingly declared there are only “two sexes, male and female.”

Serrano raised that the order has been temporarily blocked because of one transgender woman, using the pseudonym Maria Moe, who challenged that the transfer violated her constitutional protections under the Fifth Amendment due process clause and the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Serrano also noted that while Trump’s order only applies to those in federal prisons, conservative politicians in states like Pennsylvania could try to follow suit.

The program was organized by Jerome Coffey and Cindy Lou, a candidate with Workers World Party. Valerie Kiebala, a writer, organizer and artist who has written on Coffey’s case, chaired.

For additional information on the case, see workers.org/2021/04/55618/ and workers.org/2020/01/45452/.