In April, three women of the MOVE 9 were denied parole. The political prisoners have been behind bars since 1978, after being framed for the death of a Philadelphia police officer. The Board of Probation and Parole said that Debbie Africa, Janet Africa and Janine Africa had not “accepted responsibility” and had minimized their offenses.
During a 1978 raid on the MOVE organization’s home, police officer James Ramp was shot and killed. Autopsy reports show that he was shot in the back of the neck in a downward direction when all nine MOVE members were in the basement six feet below street level, making it impossible for them to have shot Ramp. They were sentenced to 30 to 100 years.
In a 1985 raid on MOVE, police dropped a bomb from a helicopter, causing a massive fire that killed 11 people, including 5 children, and left 240 people homeless.
