August 29, 2014
CONTACT: Samantha Friedman, West End Strategy Team
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Office: (202) 776-7700 or cell: (202) 215-9260 or
National interfaith human rights organization responds to New York City legislation regulating solitary confinement
WASHINGTON, D.C. –The National Religious Campaign Against Torture, long committed to ending long-term solitary confinement in the nation’s prisons and jails based on moral objections to the practice from its membership base of hundreds of diverse religious groups across the country, responded today to a new New York City law increasing oversight of the use of solitary confinement at Rikers Island. The law was passed by the City Council last week and signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio Thursday. The law will require the city Department of Correction to report quarterly on the number of inmates in solitary, their length of stay and if they were harmed while there.
Rev. Ron Stief, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, said, “The National Religious Campaign against Torture has been working hard in New York to find legislative solutions that will put an end to the immoral practice of long-term solitary confinement and isolation of juveniles and the mentally ill, which by consensus in the faith community, is torture. Having worked closely with New York City Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte as he significantly reduced solitary confinement in his former position in Maine, I believe that he and his staff will take the much needed reporting requirements of this legislation seriously and work with interested communities in New York City to change the culture inside the prison and reduce solitary confinement at Rikers Island.”
Added Rev. Laura Markle Downton, director of U.S. prisons policy and program at the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, “Faith leaders, in New York and nationally, are closely monitoring the issue of solitary confinement. We understand that more than 80 percent of those serving time at Rikers Island have not been convicted of any crime but are awaiting trial. The recent Department of Justice findings, which revealed that, under the previous administration, 27 percent of teens serving time at Rikers Island had been placed in solitary, is unconscionable. Though not an end in itself, we celebrate Mayor de Blasio’s signing of the legislation requiring quarterly data reporting on who is in solitary at Rikers Island and under what conditions, because we recognize it as an important step in the process of ushering in humane alternatives. For the well-being of both staff and those who are confined, our communities of faith stand ready to support alternatives that respect human dignity and potential.”
The National Religious Campaign Against Torture has been vocal in its opposition to solitary confinement on moral grounds. Earlier this year, the organization submitted written testimony to Congress in advance of a Congressional hearing on solitary confinement at the federal level, “Reassessing Solitary Confinement II: The Human Rights, Fiscal and Public Safety Consequences.”
The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is a membership organization committed to ending U.S.-sponsored torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Since its formation in January 2006, more than 300 religious organizations have joined NRCAT, including representatives from the Catholic, evangelical Christian, mainline Protestant, Unitarian Universalist, Quaker, Orthodox Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Baha’i, Buddhist, and Sikh communities. Members include national denominations and faith groups, regional organizations and local congregations.
