NRCAT Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 11, 2023
CONTACT: Rev. T.C. Morrow, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and 202-547-1920

Washington, DC - On the 21st anniversary of the opening of the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture and a diverse group of more than 100 organizations, sent a letter to the White House calling on President Biden to close the detention facility and end indefinite detention.

The full letter is available in PDF and reads as follows:

January 11, 2023

President Joseph Biden The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear President Biden:

We are a diverse group of non-governmental organizations working, in both the United States and other countries, on issues including international human rights, immigrants’ rights, racial justice, and combatting anti-Muslim discrimination. We write to urge you to prioritize closing the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and ending indefinite military detention.

Among a broad range of human rights violations perpetrated against predominantly Muslim communities over the last two decades, the Guantánamo detention facility – built on the same military base where the United States unconstitutionally detained Haitian refugees in deplorable conditions in the early 1990s – is the iconic example of the abandonment of the rule of law.
The Guantánamo detention facility was designed specifically to evade legal constraints, and Bush administration officials incubated torture there.

Nearly eight hundred Muslim men and boys were held at Guantánamo after 2002, all but a handful without charge or trial. Thirty-five remain there today, at the astronomical cost of $540 million per year, making Guantánamo the most expensive detention facility in the world.
Guantánamo embodies the fact that the United States government has long viewed communities of color – citizens and non-citizens alike – as a security threat, to devastating consequences.

This is not a problem of the past. Guantánamo continues to cause escalating and profound damage to the aging and increasingly ill men still detained indefinitely there, most without charge and none having received a fair trial. It has also devastated their families and communities. The approach Guantánamo exemplifies continues to fuel and justify bigotry, stereotyping, and stigma. Guantánamo entrenches racial divisions and racism more broadly, and risks facilitating additional rights violations.

It is long past time for both a sea change in the United States’ approach to national and human security, and a meaningful reckoning with the full scope of damage that the post-9/11 approach has caused. Closing the Guantánamo detention facility, ending indefinite military detention of those held there, and never again using the military base for unlawful mass detention of any group of people are necessary steps towards those ends. We urge you to act without delay, and in a just manner that considers the harm done to the men who have been detained indefinitely without charge or fair trials for two decades.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 3, 2022
CONTACT: Rev. T.C. Morrow, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and 202-547-1920

Release of Guantanamo’s Oldest Detainee

Washington, DC - On Saturday, October 29, the Pentagon announced that after 19 years in U.S. custody without ever being charged with a crime, Saifullah Paracha was repatriated to Pakistan from the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
Mr. Paracha was held by the U.S. government since July 2003 and at Guantanamo since 2004. After never being charged with a crime, in May 2021 he was cleared for release from Guantanamo.

We are glad the governments of the United States and Pakistan negotiated his repatriation and return to his family. At the age of 75 and the oldest detainee at Guantanamo at the time of his departure, Mr. Paracha has numerous medical conditions and we pray that he will receive the medical care he needs.

Of the thirty-five Muslim men who are still held at Guantanamo, twenty have been cleared for transfer through review processes.

Responding to this latest step by the Biden Administration to honor its commitment to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture said, “We are grateful for the Biden Administration’s commitment to take this step toward closing Guantanamo prison and celebrate the return of Saifullah Paracha to his family in Pakistan. We applaud the work of the U.S. government and other countries in repatriating or resettling the men cleared for transfer out of the prison.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 30, 2022
CONTACT: Rev. T.C. Morrow, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  or 202-547-1920

Faith Leaders Express Grave Concern and Disappointment in Response to Gov. Newsom Veto of the California Mandela Act on Solitary Confinement

SACRAMENTO, CA - Leading religious leaders expressed grave concern and disappointment today following the news of Gov. Newsom’s veto of the California Mandela Act on Solitary Confinement, an act which would end prolonged solitary confinement in California prisons, jails and for-profit immigrant detention centers.

Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, said, “Governor Newsom missed a golden opportunity to end the torture of solitary confinement in California when he vetoed the California Mandela Act on Solitary. Solitary confinement has been condemned as torture by Pope Francis and faith leaders across the globe. The religious communities and faith leaders who implored the governor to do the right thing this year will recommit to double our efforts in the coming year to ensure that the voices of survivors of solitary and their loved ones are heard: solitary is torture. For the thousands of individuals in California prisons, jails and detention centers who now remain in these living tombs, we will not end this struggle for human dignity and racial justice until the torture stops.”

Weeks before, 37 religious organizations in California, including national faith organizations with a significant presence in California, joined together in delivering a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom to urge him to sign AB 2632, the California Mandela Act on Solitary Confinement. If signed into law, California would have joined New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut in legislating strict limits on the use of solitary confinement.

The United Nations, leading medical and mental health experts, and other developed nations broadly recognize the use of prolonged solitary confinement as a form of torture. The California Mandela Act would have applied to jails, prisons, and private, for-profit immigrant detention centers in California, defined solitary confinement as any period of confinement that exceeds 17 hours in a cell, limited the duration any person can be held in isolated conditions, and banned the use of solitary confinement for certain populations.

The full letter, which was delivered to Gov. Newsom on September 14, 2022, is available in PDF and reads as follows:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 14, 2022
CONTACT: Laura Markle Downton, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and 202-853-9009

Faith Organizations Call on Gov. Newsom to Sign the California Mandela Act on Solitary Confinement

SACRAMENTO, CA - Today 37 religious organizations in California, including national faith organizations with a significant presence in California, joined together in delivering a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom to urge him to sign AB 2632, the California Mandela Act on Solitary Confinement. If signed into law, California will join New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut in legislating strict limits on the use of solitary confinement.

The United Nations, leading medical and mental health experts, and other developed nations broadly recognize the use of prolonged solitary confinement as a form of torture. The legislation, which would apply to jails, prisons, and private, for-profit immigrant detention centers in California, defines solitary confinement as any period of confinement that exceeds 17 hours in a cell, limits the duration any person can be held in isolated conditions, and bans the use of solitary confinement for certain populations.

Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, said, “Governor Newsom has a golden opportunity to end solitary confinement in California -- a practice that has long been condemned as torture by Pope Francis and faith leaders across the globe and in the U.S. If the governor truly wants to lead, then he should follow the example of the governors in NJ, NY and CT who have already signed legislation in their states ending prolonged solitary confinement in their state prisons and detention centers.”

Rabbi Michael Lezak, GLIDE, said "At GLIDE, we believe in the sanctity of each and every human being, even the most marginalized in society. We believe firmly that the prison system should be geared toward ongoing socialization and rehabilitation of people who have committed crimes. We see solitary confinement not only as cruel and inhumane, it also fails to socialize and rehabilitate incarcerated people. We believe that it should be discontinued immediately."

The full letter is available in PDF and reads as follows:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 10, 2022
CONTACT: Rev. T.C. Morrow, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and 202-547-1920

Coalition Letter Calls for Transparency and Accountability in Biden Administration's Counterterrorism Review

WASHINGTON, DC - On August 10, 2022, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture joined 25 faith, human rights, and other civil society groups in sending a letter to President Biden calling for transparency and accountability around his administration’s ongoing review of counterterrorism policy, especially as it relates to lethal strikes outside of war zones. Amid new reports of planned strikes in Somalia, the letter reiterates the call of over 110 groups last June, to disavow and end the lethal strikes program for good.

The letter states:

"The U.S. has, across multiple administrations, justified lethal operations in Somalia and beyond using a myriad of shifting legal and policy rationales, including a virtually limitless theory of “collective self-defense.” Without proper oversight and accountability, the executive branch's unilateral military actions have all too often violated not only U.S. law but also international human rights law safeguards and protections against unlawful use of extraterritorial force.5 We urge your administration to set a new course.

In particular, we ask you to:
● Ensure meaningful consultation with civil society to inform your ongoing counterterrorism review;
● Finalize and publicly release a review that acknowledges the tremendous harm caused by decades of ill-defined use of lethal force against vulnerable communities, overhauls prior lethal force policies to align with U.S. and international law, and centers human rights and the protection of civilians;
● Publicly disclose and explain the legal and policy rationale for any proposed lethal operations in Somalia, in light of past harms to civilians and the requirements of U.S. and international law;
● Commit to addressing past U.S.-caused civilian harm in Somalia, including by ensuring full assessments and investigations of all reported cases, publicly acknowledging civilian harm, and offering amends or redress for harm, including but not limited to condolence payments and formal apologies; and
● Adopt a conflict-sensitive approach centered in human rights, peacebuilding, the rule of law, and diplomacy."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 14, 2022
CONTACT: Rev. T.C. Morrow, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and 202-547-1920

Twenty-Nine National Religious Organizations Call on Members of Congress to Co-Sponsor Bipartisan Legislation to Address Solitary Confinement

WASHINGTON, DC – On Thursday, July 14, 2022, twenty-nine national religious organizations sent a letter to Members of the House of Representatives calling on them to “become a co-sponsor of H.R. 8048, the Solitary Confinement Study and Reform Act.” This new federal legislation, if passed, would create a bipartisan commission to study the effects of solitary confinement in the U.S. prison system and set national standards, with a goal of ending all long-term solitary confinement in federal prisons and detention centers. It also sets aside federal grant funding as an incentive to states that are taking steps to end solitary confinement. The faith leaders note that: “As religious organizations and faith leaders, we believe the Act is an important step toward ensuring the safety and health of our communities.”

The full letter is available in PDF and reads as follows:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 24, 2022
CONTACT: Rev. T.C. Morrow, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  and 202-547-1920

Release of Unlawfully Imprisoned Detainee Assadullah Haroon Gul from Guantanamo

WASHINGTON, DC - Yesterday, Assadullah Haroon Gul, a prisoner of a war that is over, was released from Guantanamo and could soon be repatriated with his wife, daughter, brother and elderly mother in Afghanistan. Held for nearly 15 years in Guantanamo without charges, his release comes in the wake of an October 2021 ruling by a federal judge that his ongoing detention at Guantanamo was illegal, finding that he was not a member of Al Qaeda or any associated force, as the U.S. government alleged for years.

NRCAT celebrates this newest sign of the commitment of President Biden to close the detention center at Guantanamo. The local militia that he was a part of signed a peace deal with the former Afghan government in 2016, and as the federal court ruled, there is simply no longer any basis to detain him at Guantanamo or anywhere else.

Responding to this newest step by the Biden Administration to honor its commitment to close the Guantanamo prison, Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, said, “That someone like Assadullah Haroon Gul could be held without charges for 15 years, while the U.S. government knew all along that he posed little if any threat to the U.S., shows just how wrong it is that Guantanamo prison is still open. We call on Congress and the Biden Administration to immediately take steps to close Guantanamo and end this travesty of justice.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 16, 2022
CONTACT: Rev. T.C. Morrow, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and 202-547-1920

Bipartisan Bill on Solitary Confinement Introduced in U.S. House of Representatives

WASHINGTON, DC - On Tuesday, June 14, Rep. David Trone (D-MD) and Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK) introduced the Solitary Confinement Study and Reform Act (H.R. 8048), endorsed by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, to create a bipartisan commission to study the impacts of solitary confinement in the U.S. prison system at the federal, state, and local levels, to establish new national standards on solitary. It requires federal agencies that detain or incarcerate individuals to adopt these standards.

Notably, the membership of the commission must consist of at least the formerly incarcerated people or family members of incarcerated people and will make recommendations for new national standards regarding the use of solitary confinement to the Attorney General. The legislation also authorizes the Attorney General to make grants to states that follow the new national standards and support community programming including mental health and drug treatment.

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture supports an end the torture of isolated confinement and the harm to individuals, families and communities that comes from this inhumane practice.

Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, said, “This legislation is an important step toward replacing the torture of solitary confinement with social programming and rehabilitation, which in turn will increase safety in both prisons and communities.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 8, 2022
CONTACT: Rev. T.C. Morrow, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and 202-547-1920

Call for Investigation into Reports of Torture at the Thomson Federal Penitentiary
National Faith, Civil and Human Rights Organizations Call for Investigation into Reports of Torture at the Thomson Federal Penitentiary

WASHINGTON, DC – On Wednesday, June 8, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) joined leading civil and human rights groups, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the Unlock the Box Campaign, in sending letters to the Office of the Inspector General and President Biden urging the Inspector General to launch an investigation into the federal Bureau of Prison’s practices at the Thomson federal penitentiary and urging the White House to make good on President Biden’s campaign promise to end the torture of isolated confinement in the federal system.

The letters follow recent media reports published by NPR and The Marshall Project uncovering allegations of torture at USP Thomson, including the use of prolonged double-celled solitary confinement, restraints, and systemic abusive practices on the part of correctional staff. The letter addressed to Inspector General Horowitz states:

“In 2016, there was a demand for a similar investigation into the conduct and practices of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) at USP Lewisburg’s Special Management Unit after an investigative report found the aforementioned abuses had led to the deaths of at least four incarcerated people. ... Rather than investigate these egregious practices, the response has been to simply move the unit to another federal facility in Thomson, Illinois. If BOP expected a different outcome in a new facility while leaving remaining practices in place, they were sorely mistaken.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 10, 2022
CONTACT: T.C. Morrow, 202-547-1920 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

National Faith Coalition Applauds Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont for Signing Legislation to End Long-Term Solitary Confinement in the State

WASHINGTON, DC - Connecticut has just become the third state in the nation to end the torture of long-term solitary confinement through legislative action, following New Jersey in 2019 and New York in 2021. The PROTECT Act (SB 459) applies to all Connecticut prisons and jails, preventing a person from being held in solitary confinement for more than 15 consecutive days or for more than 30 days within any 60-day period. The Act also prevents minors under the age of 18 from being held in isolated confinement. The PROTECT Act reverses decades of state policy which allowed people to be held in isolation for months, years, and even decades – far exceeding the 15-day limit set by the UN and other bodies as meeting the definition of torture.

Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, said “Those who are subject to more than 15 days in solitary confinement leave prison as torture survivors, and many times they never recover. The Connecticut Governor and state legislators have just struck a blow for humane treatment and reason. Policies that allow people to be tortured in prisons and jails do irreparable harm to corrections officers, to people who are incarcerated, and to families and the broader society who then have to deal with the devastating consequences."