For Immediate Release: December 1, 2015
Contact: Benny Witkovsky, West End Strategy Team, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; (o)202-776-7700, (c)202-765-4290
Foundry United Methodist Church Hosts Solitary Confinement Cell Installation
Local Leaders, Congregants Asked to Reflect On Those Suffering in Solitary Confinement
WASHINGTON – This Sunday, Foundry United Methodist Church on 16th Street in Washington, D.C., will host a full-size replica of a solitary confinement cell or Special Housing Unit (SHU). Parishioners will be invited to walk through, sit in and contemplate the installation after this week's Sunday services. The replica will be open to the public December 6-10, 2015. Due to its central location in downtown Washington, a number of local and national leaders in the criminal justice system have been invited to come to the replica as well.
This installation, sponsored in part by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, is part of a broader effort to mobilize the faith community to advocate for an end to the practice of solitary confinement, considered torture by the United Nations. The cell replica was originally built in Madison, Wisconsin, before being reconstructed here by NRCAT last spring. Since then it has traveled nationwide to engage with a broad range of religious communities including: The Islamic Circle of North America in Baltimore, The Pennsylvania Council of Churches in Harrisburg, the United Church of Christ General Synod in Cleveland, The National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis, and St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church here in Washington, D.C.
Following services on Sunday, Foundry United Methodist will host a screening of the NRCAT's film "Breaking Down The Box" about the faith community's response to solitary confinement as well as a panel discussion featuring NRCAT's Rev. Laura Markle Downton, Deborah Golden of the Washington Lawyers' Committee and a "Free Minds Poet Ambassador" with first hand experience of solitary confinement.
Members of the media are invited to see the SHU Installation at Foundry United Methodist Church after services on Sunday, December 6. RSVP to Benny Witkovsky at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Who: Foundry United Methodist Church, National Religious Campaign Against Torture
What: Installation of a full-size replica of a SHU or solitary confinement cell
Where: Foundry United Methodist Church, 1500 16 St NW, Washington, D.C., 20036
When: Sunday, December 6, 12:30pm in the Davenport Center
"To have the solitary confinement cell replica available in this space so close to our national leadership is an important opportunity to expose an issue that is otherwise an unjust, out-of-sight practice. We know solitary can have debilitating effects on an individual's mental health and it needs to be shown for the torture that it is. This is a critical time for national legislation on criminal justice reform; we want to do our part to help inform our leaders and community." Said Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli, Senior Pastor, Foundry UMC.
"This solitary confinement cell, as we've moved it from community to community over the last six months, has proven to be a powerful tool to expose the suffering of the thousands of adults and youth, disproportionately people of color, in solitary in our jails and prisons," said Rev. Ron Stief, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. "With Foundry's history as the religious home for so many of our leaders, and a center for social justice in Washington, I hope this installation can help further mobilize the faith community to end the torture of solitary confinement."
Media interested in attending Sunday's event should RSVP to Benny Witkovsky at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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.
NRCAT.org @NRCATtweets facebook.com/nrcat
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