FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 25, 2014
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UN Special Rapporteur On Torture, Clergy, Family Members and Survivors Unite Against Solitary Confinement Before Senate Hearing
Gathering precedes Capitol Hill hearing on solitary confinement
WASHINGTON – Preceding a Congressional hearing on solitary confinement on Tuesday, Feb. 25, national faith leaders, survivors of solitary confinement and their families, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, and human rights activists, joined together to spotlight the continuing national human rights crisis faced by tens of thousands of adults and children held in conditions of long-term isolation in prisons, jails and detention centers at the federal, state and local level.
This gathering preceded a second hearing on solitary confinement by the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Reassessing Solitary Confinement II: The Human Rights, Fiscal and Public Safety Consequences. Tuesday’s pre-hearing gathering, held at the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill, was organized by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) and the ACLU.
The gathering highlighted the ongoing work of NRCAT and its members and partners across the country toward the abolition of solitary confinement for certain populations, including individuals with severe mental illness and juveniles, and limits to its use in general.
On behalf of NRCAT, Linda Gustitus, NRCAT’s president, and Rev. Ron Stief, NRCAT’s executive director, together submitted written testimony for the official record of the Senate hearing. An excerpt from the testimony follows:
“The use of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons, jails, and detention centers violates basic religious values of community, restorative justice, compassion, and healing. The faith-based members that belong to NRCAT are united in opposing treatment that violates our values as people of faith and as fellow human beings. …
The religious community is strongly opposed to the addition of any new supermax beds in the federal system. We believe the Bureau of Prisons must focus on reducing the number of people in isolation, not adding new segregation beds. …”
In their testimony, Gustitus and Stief appeal for standards on the use of solitary confinement such as those identified by UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez, who has called for a universal prohibition of prolonged solitary confinement exceeding 15 days and a total ban on the use of solitary confinement for vulnerable populations including persons with mental disabilities and youth, finding its prolonged use a form of torture.
NRCAT encouraged those who were unable to attend the gathering Tuesday to pause for one minute of prayer and silence to remember all held alone in solitary confinement.
The full testimony from Gustitus and Stief is available at www.nrcat.org/feb25-2014-testimony.
Speakers at Tuesday’s pre-hearing gathering included:
- Moderator Laura Markle Downton, Director of U.S. Prisons Policy and Program, National Religious Campaign Against Torture
- Opening prayer by Jim Winkler, General Secretary and President, National Council of Churches
- Juan Mendez, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture
- Dolores Canales, co-founder of California Families Against Solitary Confinement, whose son is among those enduring solitary confinement in the Security Housing Unit at Pelican Bay Prison in California
- Five Mualimm-ak, of the New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement, who spent five years in solitary confinement in a New York state prison
- Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., President and CEO, Hip Hop Caucus
- Galen Carey, Vice President of Government Relations, National Association of Evangelicals
- Amy Fettig, Senior Staff Counsel, ACLU’s National Prison Project
- Closing prayer by Rabbi Rachel Gartner of T’ruah: A Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
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.
www.nrcat.org @NRCATtweets facebook.com/nrcat
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