NRCAT Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 9, 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  

U.S. Faith Leaders Condemn CIA Torture Program, Ask Congress to Act

WASHINGTON – Almost six years since the Senate began investigating the CIA’s treatment of detainees, two years after the Senate Intelligence Committee voted to adopt its torture report, and eight months after that committee held a bipartisan vote in favor of releasing its findings, the more than 500-page executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s torture report was made public today. After the details of this report came to light, several prominent faith leaders from across the country, representing a spectrum of religious traditions, released the following statements condemning U.S. use of torture and urging it be forever ended:

Bishop Oscar Cantú, chair of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said: “The Catholic Church firmly believes that torture is an ‘intrinsic evil’ that cannot be justified under any circumstance. The acts of torture described in the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report violated the God-given human dignity inherent in all people and were unequivocally wrong. Congress and the President should act to strengthen the legal prohibitions against torture and to ensure that this never happens again.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 7, 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; cell: (202) 215-9260

Members of U.S. Faith Community Praise Uruguay for "Welcoming the Stranger"

WASHINGTON – In response to the six Guantanamo detainees who were resettled in Uruguay today, members of the U.S. faith community representing three perspectives released the following statements:

Matt Hawthorne, Policy Director for the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, said, "It is morally wrong to imprison people without charge or trial, something the United States has been doing at Guantanamo for more than a decade. Uruguay has done something noble today by accepting six people into its country and freeing them from seemingly permanent imprisonment without trial. The U.S. could stand to learn something from Uruguay."

Stacy Martin, Director for Policy and Advocacy at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, added, "In taking seriously the moral imperative to welcome the stranger -- something that the United States has been unwilling to do with Guantanamo detainees who pose no threat to national security nor to the communities to which they would be resettled -- the Uruguayan government has displayed leadership and is a positive example to the U.S. and the rest of the international community.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 5, 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

National Faith Organization Asks: “How Long Must We Wait For Truth?”

WASHINGTON – Five years since the investigation began, two years since the report was adopted, and seven months since the Committee voted to make it public, the American people continue to wait to learn the truth about the CIA’s torture program, as described in the Senate Intelligence Committee torture report.  Today, news articles indicated that Secretary John Kerry may have suggested further delaying the release of the report.  Responding to these reports, Matt Hawthorne, Policy Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture released the following statement:

“How long do the American people have to wait to get the truth from this government?  The torture program ended almost six years ago - since then there has been a bipartisan vote in Congress in favor of releasing the facts about torture to the public.  President Obama has said that he would like the report to be released next week but that comes after the CIA delayed release for several months by insisting on unreasonable redactions, and now there are reports that the State Department has suggested further delays.  What can the President do to make his Administration live up to his own promises?  

CAMPAIGN FOR ALTERNATIVES TO ISOLATED CONFINEMENT PRAISES LESNIAK “SOLITARY” BILL
Legislation would sharply curtail isolation in correctional facilities and ban its use for people with mental illness, juveniles, and other vulnerable populations.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 1, 2014

CONTACT:
Deborah Howlett, Communications Director, ACLU-NJ, 973-854-1728
Bonnie Kerness, American Friends Service Committee, Prison Watch Project, 908-410-3978
Rev. Laura Markle Downton, Director of U.S. Prisons Policy and Program, National Religious Campaign Against Torture, 202-547-1920
Jean Ross, Chair of the Prison Committee, People’s Organization for Progress, 609-924-6508

The Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement-NJ strongly supports legislation introduced today by state Senator Raymond Lesniak to sharply curtail the use of isolation, sometimes referred to as solitary confinement or segregation, in prisons and jails in New Jersey. This legislation would also ban the isolation of vulnerable populations such as juveniles and people with mental illness.

The ground-breaking legislation would install limits on and provide safeguards for the use of isolated confinement on all prisoners. It would:

• permit the use of isolated confinement of adults only when the prisoner presents a significant and immediate danger to self or others and other alternatives would not ensure the safety of all involved;
• impose limits on the length of time an prisoner may be allowed in solitary confinement;
• require that when isolated confinement is used, the prisoner be actively monitored by corrections personnel and mental health professionals; and
• mandate public reporting of the use of isolation.

The bill seeks to resist the demonstrated tendency to use isolated confinement as an intervention of first resort, rather than exploring other less harmful interventions, with more positive and lasting effects.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 25, 2014

NRCAT Interfaith Members Respond to Ferguson

(Washington, DC) In response to the grand jury decision in Ferguson not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the killing of unarmed African American teenager Michael Brown, the National Religious Campaign Against Torutre shares below statements from our member organizations and partners.  Our shared work to end torture in U.S. policy, practice, and culture is rooted in the reality that our religious traditions teach us that we belong to one another in community.  When and where human rights and human dignity are violated, where systemic violence, racism and brutality are met with impunity, whether on our streets or in our prisons and places of confinement, we must stand together and work boldly for justice. Read press release from NRCAT.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 25, 2014

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

We Must Stand Together and Work Boldly for Justice:
Statement After the Ferguson Grand Jury Decision

WASHINGTON – In response to the grand jury decision in Ferguson not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the killing of unarmed African American teenager Michael Brown, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture released this statement by Rev. Laura Markle Downton, director of U.S. prisons policy & program:

“Our shared work to end torture in U.S. policy, practice, and culture is rooted in the reality that our religious traditions teach us that we belong to one another in community.  When and where human rights and human dignity are violated, where systemic violence, racism and brutality are met with impunity, whether on our streets or in our prisons and places of confinement, we must stand together and work boldly for justice. The persistence and bravery of the youth organizers in Ferguson, sustained now for more than one hundred days, along with solidarity protests nationwide, continue to call our nation to account. Together, we must work to end the criminalization of communities of color, and promote policies that ensure all people are free to live into their full and sacred potential.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 20, 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  


WASHINGTON – Five Guantanamo detainees were resettled in Europe today, three in Georgia and two in Slovakia.  Two prominent American faith leaders -Rev. Ron Stief, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, and Diane Randall, executive secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation - released the following response:

Rev. Ron Stief, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, said, “The reality of indefinite detention without charge or trial at Guantanamo is not only a moral problem for the U.S., it is an affront to all humanity.  Georgia and Slovakia deserve thanks from U.S. citizens today.  This act of humanity stands in stark contrast to our own country, which has refused to accept any Guantanamo detainees - including those who our government says are not a threat to anyone.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 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

On Eve of UN Committee Against Torture Meeting, U.S. Faith Leaders Urge Rejection of Bush Administration Approach to Convention Against Torture

WASHINGTON – On Wednesday, the United States will appear before the Committee Against Torture in Geneva to discuss U.S. compliance with the Convention Against Torture, which was ratified by the United States in 1994. Media reports have suggested that the Obama Administration may use this opportunity to affirm the Bush Administration position that the Convention does not prohibit the U.S. from engaging in cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment in other countries. In response to this concern, two prominent American faith leaders urged the President to maintain his administration’s opposition to torture:

Rev. Ron Stief, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, said, “The consensus of the U.S. faith community is that cruel and inhuman treatment is wrong in all circumstances, whether conducted on U.S. soil or not. If President Obama tells the world that he doesn’t think the Convention Against Torture applies to us outside our borders, the faith community will not sit quietly in the face of this moral backpedaling.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 29, 2014
CONTACT: Benny Witkovsky, West End Strategy Team
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 202-776-7700

Interfaith organizations sponsor vigil to protest solitary confinement,
treatment of prisoners in the war on terror

NEW YORK — On Nov. 3, T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) will co-sponsor a vigil outside the Metropolitan Correction Center in lower Manhattan to stand in solidarity with family members and loved ones of “war on terror” suspects currently incarcerated and detained, offer support and demand human rights rooted in human dignity. This interfaith display of solidarity is 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. The vigil also continues both NRCAT and T’ruah’s longstanding work for an end to the torture of solitary confinement and to the hatred and bigotry that undergird the targeting of Muslims in America.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 29, 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 or

National interfaith human rights organization responds to New York City legislation regulating 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, responded today to a new New York City law increasing oversight of the use of solitary confinement at Rikers Island. The law was passed by the City Council last week and signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio Thursday. The law will require the city Department of Correction to report quarterly on the number of inmates in solitary, their length of stay and if they were harmed while there.

Rev. Ron Stief, executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, said, “The National Religious Campaign against Torture has been working hard in New York to find legislative solutions that will put an end to the immoral practice of long-term solitary confinement and isolation of juveniles and the mentally ill, which by consensus in the faith community, is torture. Having worked closely with New York City Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte as he significantly reduced solitary confinement in his former position in Maine, I believe that he and his staff will take the much needed reporting requirements of this legislation seriously and work with interested communities in New York City to change the culture inside the prison and reduce solitary confinement at Rikers Island.”