Writing prior and during his incarceration, Mumia has exposed the mass incarceration of people of color in for-profit U.S. prisons and the dangers of U.S. wars and interventions abroad. In 2015, Mumia suffered a diabetic coma due to the prison’s overuse of steroids to treat severe dermatitis, which left him with undiagnosed retinal diabetes. In late 2024, he was scheduled for an eye appointment in January 2025, but that was cancelled due to poor weather. After a national and international campaign demanding medical treatment for Mumia to save his eyesight, finally in early September 2025 Mumia was allowed to have successful cataract surgery in his left eye. But he still needs cataract surgery in his right eye, and the diabetic retinopathy needs to be immediately treated and subsequently monitored.