- by Chris Taylor
- Saturday, July 08, 2006
- filed in:
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Musical pioneer Gil Scott-Heron has been sent to prison for between two and four years after breaking the conditions of a plea deal on drugs charges.
The musician and poet, who rose to fame for penning such social-conciousness anthems as The Revolution Will Not Be Televised in the seventies, had been ordered to attend an in-patient drug patient centre after being tried on drugs charges in 2001.
However, Scott-Heron was given a custodial sentence by Queens Supreme Court in New York after admitting to leaving the centre.
Scott-Heron, 56, said he had left the centre because they had stopped giving him HIV medication. The court was told by the Prosecution that he had once left the centre to perform with Alicia Keys.
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The white judicial system is going to kill Gil Scott-Heron. They are going to stick him in prison, where he won’t get his HIV medication, and where, as an older man in poor health, there is a good chance he will be beaten to death by young punks.
Goddamn it, we have to try to stop this. Gil Scott-Heron is being killed because he spent too many years telling the truth about racism, capitalism, and war.
Free Gil Scott-Heron! Don’t let them kill The Messenger!
- Free Gil! No sane society can lock up this man. He is no threat to the public. They can’t stop a prisoner getting his medication? Is this for sure? What is the source? Is it normal U.S. procedure or a special punishment reserved for him? If so this is a case for Amnesty. The prison has a duty to provide necessary medicine. I do share your fear for his safety although I’d hope he also has a lot of respect from other inmates, having been a champion of the poor and oppressed for so long
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- need to know how Gil Scott-Heron died ??
- I don’t believe that Gil is dead, however I myself would like to know/there’s a mailing address for him at a N.Y. state Prison. And YES the Penal system is by law to provide the proper medications for any inmate (which I truly hate to use in the case of Gil)....
- Please...If Gil Scott-Heron dies it won’t be because of an unfair judicial system, it will be due to all of the poison he has been pumping into his veins for the past 20yrs. This man has been given numerous chances to get off of drugs and restore some level of order back into his life. We only serve to enable Gil Scott-Heron when we buy into his numerous reasons/lies why he cannot seem to seek/stay in drug rehab.
Gil Scott-Heron is a crack-head junkie-tough love will serve him well.
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