*Tupac Shakur’s stepfather Mutulu Shakur is set to be released from prison after more than 35 years behind bars.
Mutulu, 72, will be released on parole on Dec. 16, and NBC News reports that he will spend his final days with family as he has several health issues. Mutulu is currently held at a federal medical center in Kentucky that houses incarcerated people who require medical care. According to reports, Shakur has blood cancer, stage-3 multiple myeloma which affects the bones and kidneys.
Shakur has been imprisoned since the late 80s, after being convicted of leading a group of revolutionaries to carry out a string of armed robberies in New York and Connecticut, leading to the deaths of three people. Shakur was convicted in 1988 but in October, the U.S. Parole Commission granted a request to release him.
“There are a lot of tears of joy,” Jomo Muhammad, an organizer with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, who has been working to free Shakur, said of the decision. “There’s still disbelief because we were steadying ourselves for another denial. Now folks are excited about being able to reunite Mutulu with his family. We were crying together. It’s a long time overdue.”
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Over the years, Mutulu has been denied release several times. His supporters have long argued that his arrest and lengthy imprisonment were due to authorities wanting to make an example of the activist and holistic health care advocate.
Authorities noted the severity of his crimes for denying parole and because “his health had not deteriorated enough to warrant release,” NBC News writes.
However, Commission officials told Shakur in October, “We now find your medical condition renders you so infirm of mind and body that you are no longer physically capable of committing any Federal, State, or local crime.”
YES! Dr. Mutulu Shakur has FINALLY been granted parole for early release from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons after several denied attempts to receive compassionate release! This activist can now seek treatment for his terminal cancer in humane conditions alongside his family!
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) November 11, 2022
Shakur will be monitored for up to four months following his release, according to the report.
“He was not exonerated. He was given medical parole, which means he could still be snatched back from us,” Muhammad said. “His release doesn’t end his cancer. We’re preparing for him to come home, and we have to figure out transportation because his condition has deteriorated so much that he can’t fly commercial. He’s been able to make it longer than what the doctors have given him, but he still has cancer and he’s still dying.”
