For Immediate Release: September 4, 2015
Contact: Benny Witkovsky, West End Strategy Team -
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NRCAT Welcomes Historic Settlement Ending Long-Term Solitary Confinement in California
Responding to the settlement announced this week in the Ashker vs. Brown class action lawsuit challenging long-term and indefinite solitary confinement, Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture said, "This historic settlement is a testament to the dignity and courage of incarcerated people and their loved ones who – by sharing their stories, advocating for justice, and making their pain known through a series of demonstrations and hunger strikes - have awakened the world to the horrors of long-term solitary confinement. Solitary confinement is nothing short of torture, but it is practiced systematically in prisons and jails across the United States.
He said, "This settlement, following a landmark speech by President Obama fundamentally questioning the practice of solitary, marks a turning point in the struggle for justice in our prison system. It should serve as a powerful wake-up call for every department of corrections, every state government, the federal Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Justice. This is a call for a change in our very thinking, a call to recognize the inherent dignity of every human person, a value that must not end at the prison gate. Communities of faith nationwide are united in our common commitment to working for an end to the torture of solitary. People of faith and community know that divinity exists in our relationships with each other. For too long thousands in California prisons, disproportionately people of color, have been denied those relationships. We rejoice today that at least some of their suffering has been lessened. This settlement marks a profound moment in the nationwide struggle for human rights and an end to torture."
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