NRCAT Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 6, 2015

CONTACT: Benny Witkovsky, West End Strategy Team
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; (o) 202-776-7700, (c) 202-765-4290

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On Wednesday, March 11, at the invitation of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, Robert Dellelo will testify at the Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections public meeting about his experiences having served more than 50 years behind bars. More than a decade of those years was spent in solitary confinement, recognized as a form of torture under international human rights standards.

Accompanying Mr. Delello at the Colson Task Force meeting on Wednesday will be Rev. Ron Stief, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. Inspired in large part by Mr. Delello’s story and counsel, NRCAT has worked since 2009 to mobilize the faith community to advocate for an end to the torture of solitary confinement, advancing interfaith participation in campaigns nationwide

Delello is available to speak with media in advance of the meeting and on the day of about his experience and the importance of ending solitary confinement. Rev. Stief is available to speak about the broader work of the faith community to stop solitary confinement. More details are below.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 3, 2015

CONTACT: Samantha Friedman, West End Strategy Team
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Cell: (202) 215-9260

NEW YORK – Today, Rev. Ron Stief, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, spoke on the steps of New York City Hall at a gathering sponsored by the Jails Action Coalition and joined by New York City Council members Corey Johnson, Elizabeth Crowley and Rosie Mendez. NRCAT, which represents more than 300 religious organizations nationwide committed to ending the torture of solitary confinement in the United States, joined survivors of solitary confinement, New York City politicians, and community leaders in decrying the failures of medical and mental health treatment – particularly concerning solitary confinement – in New York City jails.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 2, 2015
CONTACT: Samantha Friedman, West End Strategy Team - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Cell: (202) 215-9260

National Faith Leader Speaks Out Against Treatment of Post-9/11 Detainees in New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center
Tonight's New York City vigil featured testimony from head of NRCAT, human rights advocates, and detainees' families

NEW YORK – This evening, Rev. Ron Stief, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, joined human rights advocates and the families of detainees in a vigil outside the Metropolitan Correction Center in Lower Manhattan. The vigil was a part of the No Separate Justice campaign to expose and seek an end to the human rights abuses found in the hundreds of "war on terror" cases that have been processed through courtrooms and federal prisons across the United States since 9/11. Stief's participation is a continuation of NRCAT's ongoing work to mobilize the faith community to end the torture of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and to counteract the bigotry behind the mistreatment of detainees.

Rev. Ron Stief, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, said at today's vigil, "The immoral post-9/11 epidemic of abuses and isolating people in detention, even pre-trial, did not just happen at Guantanamo or CIA secret overseas prisons. It continues to go on right here in New York City at the federally run Metropolitan Correctional Center.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 27, 2015

CONTACT: Benny Witkovsky, West End Strategy Team, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Office: (202) 776-7700

National interfaith human rights organization calls for further action following a new report on solitary confinement in the federal Bureau of Prisons

WASHINGTON, D.C. –The National Religious Campaign Against Torture has long been committed to ending long-term solitary confinement in the nation's prisons and jails, motivated by the moral objections to the practice from its membership of hundreds of diverse religious groups across the country. Yesterday the federal Bureau of Prisons released the report "Federal Bureau of Prisons: Special Housing Unit Review and Assessment," requested following a 2012 congressional hearing on human rights, fiscal and public safety consequences of solitary confinement. NRCAT responded today to the release of the first-ever assessment of federal policies related to solitary confinement.

"While this first-ever report of federal policies on solitary confinement is a significant milestone, it documents just how much work we have left to accomplish," said Rev. Laura Markle Downton, director of U.S. prisons policy and program at the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, "NRCAT and our faith partners across the country have been calling for a universal prohibition of prolonged solitary confinement exceeding 15 days. Recommendations – like those contained in this report - that do not prohibit long-term isolation in favor of rehabilitation and treatment are inadequate in the face of both science of the mind and the ethics of human dignity, which condemn such conditions as torture. State legislators and prison administrators are prioritizing the implementation of alternatives to isolation. If the federal Bureau of Prisons is to live up to its stated mission 'to prepare inmates for release,' it can and must do better than the devastation of long-term isolation."

For Immediate Release
Thursday, February 12, 2015

Contact: Samantha Friedman, West End Strategy Team
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Office: (202) 776-7700; cell: (202) 215-9260

Civil Rights Advocates Urge NJ State Senate Committee to Severely Restrict Solitary Confinement
Inhumane isolation damages mental health of prisoners and poses dangers to society

Members of the Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement, a coalition of groups committed to ending solitary confinement, as currently practiced in New Jersey's jails and prisons, testified today in favor of a bill to severely restrict its use. The bill, S-2588, sponsored by State Senators Peter Barnes III and Raymond Lesniak, would impose limits and safeguards that have been shown to improve both institutional and community safety.

“I’ve been on both sides of solitary confinement, and I know that many people think of it as a temporary punishment that lasts only as long as the isolation itself,” said Terrell A. Blount, a student in Rutgers University’s Master of Public Administration program, who previously served three months in solitary confinement. “Based on what I’ve seen working with men who have served long sentences, some who served 10 years in isolation, solitary confinement is a sentence that lasts a lifetime. At the age of 21, I entered solitary myself, and I was assaulted by a man twice my age with a sentence four times longer than my own. Most people who serve time in solitary will re-enter society. And when they do, we should ask ourselves if we want them to be haunted by the torture they endured, or if we want them in a position where they can make the greatest contributions to society as possible. New Jersey needs this bill signed into law, as do the countless men and women in our state who have been subjected to the unjust and inhumane practice most commonly called solitary confinement.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 15, 2015

CONTACT: Samantha Friedman, West End Strategy Team
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Office: (202) 776-7700; cell: (202) 215-9260

Members of U.S. Faith Community Praise Oman and Estonia for resettling Yemenis from Guantanamo

WASHINGTON – In response to the resettlement of five Guantanamo detainees in Oman and Estonia this week, representatives from the American interfaith community released the following statements praising these nations for taking in the prisoners. Through the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, many from the U.S. faith community are celebrating the resettlement as a sign of progress toward Guantanamo’s closure.

Jim Winkler, President and General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, said:  “I am grateful that Oman and Estonia agreed to accept a transfer of detainees from Guantanamo. It is time for the United States to accept Guantanamo detainees, some of whom are innocent.  I look forward to the day when all detainees have been transferred out of Guantanamo and that notorious facility is finally closed.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 14, 2015

CONTACT: Samantha Friedman, West End Strategy Team: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Office: (202) 776-7700 or cell: (202) 215-9260

National interfaith human rights organization applauds New York City Board of Correction for progress in limiting solitary confinement

WASHINGTON, D.C. –The National Religious Campaign Against Torture, long committed to ending long-term solitary confinement in the nation’s prisons and jails based on moral objections to the practice from its membership base of hundreds of diverse religious groups across the country, is applauding today the New York City Board of Correction for its progress in this realm. The BOC unanimously passed new rules at a hearing yesterday, January 13, to eliminate solitary confinement for incarcerated people age 21 and younger, and to immediately limit solitary confinement for all incarcerated people to no more than 30 days consecutively.

Rev. Laura Markle Downton, director of U.S. prisons policy and program at the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, said, “This is a significant move on the part of the New York City Board of Correction in two ways: the new rules acknowledge the need to end long-term solitary confinement by placing limits on its use in all circumstances, and take seriously the developmental needs of youth and young people. This marks an important moment to build upon in the nationwide effort to end the use of solitary confinement, an internationally recognized form of torture.”

For Immediate Release: January 8, 2015
Contact: Jen Nessel, CCR, 212.614.6449, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Jeremy Varon, Witness Against Torture, 732.979.3119, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Groups to Rally Sunday at White House on 13th Guantánamo Anniversary:
Coalition Demands Obama Honor Promise to Close Detention Center

Washington, DC – A coalition of human rights activists, torture survivors, Guantánamo attorneys, 9-11 family members, and members of diverse faith communities is holding a rally at the White House followed by a march to the Justice Department on Sunday, January 11, to mark the 13th anniversary of the first arrival of detainees at Guantanamo. The event, titled “A Promise Still to Keep: Close Guantánamo, Stop Torture, and End Indefinite Detention,” will follow an interfaith service in front of the White House at 1pm.

The coalition is calling on the Obama administration and Congress to close Guantánamo, end indefinite detention, ensure accountability for torture, and reaffirm the absolute legal ban on torture. The rally will be followed by a visually powerful “detainee procession” of figures in orange jumpsuits and black hoods and signs marking the anniversary.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 19, 2014

CONTACT: Samantha Friedman, West End Strategy Team - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Office: (202) 776-7700 or cell: (202) 215-9260

National interfaith human rights organization submits testimony calling for the New York City Department of Correction to promote treatment, not solitary confinement
TODAY: New York City Board of Corrections hearing open to media

WASHINGTON, D.C. –The National Religious Campaign Against Torture, long committed to ending long-term solitary confinement in the nation’s prisons and jails based on moral objections to the practice from its membership base of hundreds of diverse religious groups across the country, today submitted testimony calling on the New York City Department of Correction to promote a treatment model that ends the use of solitary confinement.

The Board of Correction will hold a public hearing today, to which media are invited.

Details:
WHAT: New York City Board of Correction Hearing
WHERE: Auditorium, Ground Floor, 455 1st Ave. (between E. 26th and 27th Streets), New York
WHEN: 9 a.m. Friday, December 19, 2014

In her testimony, Rev. Laura Markle Downton, director of U.S. prisons policy and program at the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, writes:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 11, 2014

CONTACT: Benny Witkovsky, West End Strategy Team - Office: (202) 776-7700; cell: (202) 765-4290; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

Brennan Admits CIA Uncertain Torture Produced Intelligence

WASHINGTON – In a statement today, CIA Director John Brennan said that the agency has not concluded that EITs “allowed us to obtain useful information from detainees.”  He followed by saying that he believes “effective, non-coercive methods are available to elicit such information, methods that do not have a counter-productive impact on our national security and on our international standing.”  He also said that in his view “the use of coercive methods has a strong prospect for resulting in false information.”  

Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director for the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, responded to Director Brennan’s remarks by saying: 

“Torture is wrong.  It is contrary to the core principles of all faiths and it violates the values of our country.  It is also illegal.  Those who defend torture argue that it is needed to produce intelligence.  Now, the CIA Director himself says that the agency doesn’t know whether torture produced useful intelligence and that techniques are likely to produce false information.