PRESS RELEASE:
October 31, 2013
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New toolkit for commemorating Human Rights Day
National interfaith coalition produced toolkit to address solitary confinement
WASHINGTON –The National Religious Campaign Against Torture has released a toolkit to support congregations and religious organizations in commemorating the 65th anniversary of the adoption and proclamation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The theme of the toolkit for Human Rights Day, December 10, 2013, is “Confronting Solitary Confinement in an Age of Mass Incarceration.”
Seeking to help the United States more fully live out the standards of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture mobilizes people of faith to educate themselves and engage in public policy advocacy to address the problem of solitary confinement. Article 5 of the Universal Declaration states: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
Juan Mendez, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, has said that to keep an adult in solitary confinement for more than 15 days constitutes torture. Mendez also has called for a prohibition on the use of solitary confinement for youth and those with mental illness. The severe psychological effects of solitary confinement include hallucinations, paranoia and increased rates of self-mutilation and suicide.
Laura Markle Downton, NRCAT’s Director of U.S. Prisons Policy & Program, said, “Over 80,000 adults and youth in U.S. prisons, jails and detention centers are subjected to solitary confinement on any given day, detained in a cell alone for 23 hours a day for months, years, even decades. Often the most vulnerable among us are subjected to solitary confinement, including youth under 18, women who are pregnant, individuals with mental illness and LGBT persons. Solitary confinement has been considered a form of torture since the early 19th century.”
Rev. Richard Killmer, NRCAT’s executive director, added, “People of faith recognize that solitary confinement denies the essential God-given need for community and destroys not only the individuals subjected to such conditions but also the families, communities and loved ones of those subjected to such inhumane treatment. Human Rights Day provides an important opportunity to confront this ongoing human rights crisis in our country. The continued use of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons is a violation of the inherent dignity of every human being, a value enshrined in the UN Declaration on Human Rights.”
The toolkit and other resources for Human Rights Day are available at www.nrcat.org/hrd2013.
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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