PRESS ADVISORY October 9, 2013
CONTACT: Samantha Friedman, West End Strategy Team, (202) 776-7700 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
TODAY: National interfaith coalition calls for legislative action to end long-term solitary confinement in California, in advance of hearing this afternoon
Solitary confinement in California prisons to be discussed at joint public safety committees hearing today
SACRAMENTO – In advance of a state legislative hearing scheduled for 1 p.m. today to address conditions of solitary confinement in California, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture is gathering local support from religious leaders and people of faith as a part of its national initiative to end the form of imprisonment that it deems constitutes torture. The joint hearing of the Senate and Assembly committees on Public Safety will be held today, Wednesday, October 9, at 1 p.m. at the State Capitol, Room 4202, and is the first in a series of hearings on the issue.
The hearings are being convened in response to this summer’s historic hunger strike in California prisons, in which more than 30,000 prisoners protested the inhumane conditions of their confinement. At least 100 remained on strike for 60 days. Before and after the hearing, rallies will be held outside the State Capitol, coordinated by the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition in collaboration with California Families to Abolish Solitary Confinement.
Details on today’s events are below:
WHAT: Joint Hearing Senate and Assembly Committees on Public Safety, and accompanying rallies in support of ending long-term solitary confinement in California
WHEN: Wednesday, October 9, 2013 (all times are local)
• Opening Rally 11:30 a.m. (West Side of the State Capitol)
• Joint Hearing 1-3:30 p.m. (Room 4202, State Capitol)
• Closing Rally 4 p.m. (State Capitol, 11th and N Streets)
WHERE: California State Capitol, Sacramento
The hearing will be televised and available for live viewing here, or live listening here. The hearing will include panels with testimony from experts on the devastating impact of solitary confinement, activists who oppose its use, formerly incarcerated individuals who speak from first-hand experience after time spent in the security housing unit (SHU), and representatives from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
More information about the hunger strike and the religious community’s response is available at NRCAT’S website. On July 8, 30,000 prisoners throughout California began a peaceful hunger strike to protest the inhuman conditions of long-term solitary confinement. In California, nearly 12,000 inmates are currently held in solitary confinement for 23 to 24 hours a day in small, windowless cells without sunlight, fresh air, meaningful human contact or constructive activity, often for years and even decades.
In late July, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture and California Families to Abolish Solitary Confinement together delivered a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown, signed by more than 1,000 clergy and religious leaders from across the country, as well as petitions from partnering groups, asking California officials to meet the core demands of prisoners in the SHU to resolve the hunger strike swiftly.
“The hearing today marks an important step in the work to end long-term solitary confinement in California prisons,” said Laura Markle Downton, director of U.S. prisons policy and program for the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. “The brave witness of those who participated in the historic prisoner hunger strike this summer is a wake-up call for state legislators that we cannot return to business as usual. As people of faith, we urge California leadership to commit to swift legislative action to bring an end to torture.”
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 325 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. More information is available at www.nrcat.org.
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