An elementary school teacher in New Jersey has been suspended after she had her students pen letters to prison inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal.
On April 5, Marylin Zuniga, who teaches at Forest Street School in Orange, tweeted that the letters written by her students were delivered to Abu-Jamal.
“Just dropped off these letters to comrade Johanna Fernandez. My 3rd graders wrote to Mumia to lift up his spirits as he is ill. #freemumia”
Twitter then exploded and her account was eventually deleted.
Abu-Jamal, 60, was briefly hospitalized for complications with his diabetes, but has since returned to prison.
The Associated Press reported that Orange School Superintendent Ronald Lee and other school officials said that they did not know about Zuniga’s assignment. The school is currently on Spring Break, however, a full investigation into the matter is expected to be conducted when it reopens on Monday.
Abu-Jamal was convicted in 1982 for the murder of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner one year earlier. He was sentenced to death, but in 2008 a federal appeals court upheld his conviction and ordered that he receive a new sentence. He was later removed from death row and is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.