Sarah Shourd to Speak at Film Screening - National Religious Campaign Against Torture

For Immediate Release: February 22, 2012
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American hiker SARAH SHOURD to join anti-torture group for screening of film on solitary confinement on TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, in Berkeley

Washington, D.C. – The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) and the Bay Area Religious Campaign Against Torture will join the First Congregational Church of Berkeley on Tuesday, February 28, to present a screening of NRCAT’s new 20-minute film, Solitary Confinement: Torture in Your Backyard. Special guest Sarah Shourd, who survived 14 months of imprisonment in Iran and has become an outspoken opponent of prolonged solitary confinement, will discuss her experience being held in solitary confinement.

Shourd is featured in the film, which describes the harm caused by prolonged solitary confinement and tells the story of how the religious community in Maine took a leading role in helping to bring about significant change in Maine’s prison system.

“The story of how Maine achieved a 70 percent reduction in the number of prisoners held in solitary confinement is a success that can be duplicated elsewhere, including here in California,” said Geoffrey Gaskins, co-convener of the Bay Area Religious Campaign Against Torture. “The California religious community will continue to be a leader in calling for an end to prolonged solitary confinement. I look forward to the day when people look at our state’s prison systems as a model and not as the site of ongoing abuses and mistreatment.”

NRCAT has remained outspoken against prolonged solitary confinement in recent months as thousands of California prison inmates have gone on hunger strike in protest of the often unjust use of solitary confinement. The screening of this film will be the latest in a series of events sponsored by NRCAT to call for an end to prolonged solitary confinement.

“All major religions recognize the inherent dignity of all human beings and their capacity for redemption,” said Rev. Richard Killmer, NRCAT’s executive director. “Long-term solitary confinement denigrates a person’s inherent dignity and hinders genuine rehabilitation. As people of faith, we believe that the use of prolonged solitary confinement has to end.”

NRCAT is a national organization whose work includes ending human rights abuses in U.S. prisons. The organization focuses specifically on the widespread use and abuse of prolonged solitary confinement in U.S. prisons.

The screening is open to the media, and coverage is welcome. Killmer and Gaskins, along with Heather Rice, who serves as NRCAT’s director of U.S. prisons policy and program, and other local leaders are available for interviews ahead of time, as well. The event is free and open to the public. Additional details below:

WHAT: Screening of Solitary Confinement: Torture in Your Backyard
WHERE: First Congregational Church of Berkeley, Small Assembly Room - 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley, California
WHEN: 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, February 28, 2012
WHO: Guest Speaker: Sarah Shourd, who survived solitary confinement in Iran after being detained while hiking
Event Sponsors: National Religious Campaign Against Torture, Bay Area Religious Campaign Against Torture, TEARS ministry team of First Congregational Church of Berkeley
WHY: To bring increased attention to the dangers of prolonged solitary confinement in American prisons

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is a growing membership organization committed to ending U.S.-sponsored torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Since its formation in January 2006, 312 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.

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