Live from Death Row

Live from Death Row, published in May 1995, is a memoir by Mumia Abu-Jamal, an American journalist and activist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is known for having been convicted of the 1981 murder of 25 year old Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner, being sentenced to death in 1982, in a trial that Amnesty International suspected of lacking impartiality, although Amnesty International takes no stance on Abu-Jamal’s guilt or innocence in the case of the murder. Abu-Jamal wrote this book while on death row. He has always maintained his innocence of "the charges" that he was "tried and convicted of," but has never denied shooting Officer Faulkner. Publishers Addison-Wesley paid Abu-Jamal a $30,000 advance for the book.

Reports that Abu-Jamal would be paid for the book resulted in protests. In a case decided in Federal appeals court, it ruled that he had the right to be paid for commentary and writings. This is the first of several books that he has published which were completed in prison. His sentence was commuted to life in prison without parole in 2011, after he had been held for 29 years on death row.