Mutulu Shakur, the 71-year-old activist and stepfather to 2pac, has been given less than 6 months to live by doctors due to a rare form of blood cancer. Shakur is currently serving time in prison for a 1988 conviction for conspiracy to violate the RICO Act, bank robbery, armed bank robbery, and bank robbery-murder.
Shakur’s attorney, Brad Thomson, says doctors with the Federal Bureau of Prisons gave his client the bad news back in May. While he reportedly has multiple health issues, the biggest problem is stage-3 multiple myeloma. Shakur’s cancer treatment has stopped working.
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“His health situation is extremely dire right now. He’s very much on an end-of-life trajectory. We’re looking at a matter of months at the most but, realistically, it could be a matter of days or weeks,” Thomson told NBC News. “At this point, the issue is getting him released so he can say goodbye to his loved ones, his family, his children, and grandchildren. To be surrounded by loved ones, so he can die in dignity, peace and comfort outside of prison.”
In November 2020, U.S. District Judge Charles Haight Jr. denied Shakur’s request for “compassionate release” due to the deterioration of his health, noting that his crimes were too serious.
“Should it develop that Shakur’s condition deteriorates further, to the point of approaching death, he may apply again to the Court, for a release that in those circumstances could be justified as ‘compassionate,’” the Judge said at the time.
[Via]