(AllHipHop News) Tupac Shakur’s stepfather Mutulu is trying to get out of prison after 30 years.
Mutulu just filed a lawsuit against the government, claiming his Constitutional First Amendment rights are being used against him, to prevent his release.
“Plaintiff has led a highly productive and exemplary life in prison, influencing his stepson Tupac Shakur’s career as a worldwide renowned hip hop artist with messages of non-violence that reached millions of young people,” Dr. Mutula said in a lawsuit filed earlier this week.
“As established by letters in the record and Plaintiff’s statement at several parole hearings, throughout his incarceration Plaintiff has been outspoken against gang violence and crime.
“He has consistently expressed support for peaceful and constructive changes in all matters involving racial disparities and social justice. He has never in 30 years of incarceration supported or in any way implied support for criminal conduct or violence to achieve social justice,” the lawsuit reads.
In 1987, Dr. Mutulu Shakur was sentenced to 60 years in prison, for his role in robbing a Brinks armored truck of $1.6 million dollars and killing three of the security guards during a heist in 1981.
The robbery was re-enacted during the scene in Tupac’s 2017 biopic “All Eyez on Me.”
Mutulu Shakur was also convicted of helping Joanne Chesimard AKA Assata Shakur, escape from a New Jersey prison, where she was serving a life sentence for the murder of a police officer in 1973.
The federal government abolished parole for federal prisoners in 1987, which made Mutulu eligible because he was sentenced prior to the new law.
In April of 2016, Mutulu’s request for freedom was denied over a “single positive drug test,” which happened 27 years before the parole hearing.
The parole board also cited telephone violations, over a phone-in interview Mutulu conducted with students at California State University Northridge.
According to the latest court filing Mutulu, who was once a target of the FBI’s infamous Cointel program, says his First Amendment rights are being trampled upon.
“The commission has failed to adopt or apply any known standards on the meaning of frequent rule violations. A handful of old telephone rule violations over 30 years do not show Plaintiff frequently violated prison rules or is likely to re-offend If released on parole,” said the lawsuit which filed by a handful of lawyers, including Benjamin L. Crump.