NRCAT Press Releases

For Immediate Release: August 24, 2011   
Contact: Samantha Friedman, office: (202) 265-3000 or cell: (202) 215-9260 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rev. Will McGarvey, representing the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), said yesterday in Sacramento at a hearing of the California State Assembly Committee on Public Safety investigating the solitary confinement policies of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, “What concerns us as people of faith is the destruction of the human spirit. When human beings are subjected to conditions that destroy who they are, it is incumbent upon the whole faith community to call our culture, and yes, even our government, to accountability. If we allow solitary confinement to continue in our society – especially when we have been informed of the harmful results – what does that say about the kind of people we have become?”

Over recent weeks, there has been significant public criticism, including from the religious community, of the way that California‟s prison system responded to the three-week-long hunger strike, initiated by inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison. The hunger strike was joined by thousands of prison inmates throughout the state, protesting prison conditions, including the use of prolonged solitary confinement in Secure Housing Units, known as SHUs.

For Immediate Release: August 23, 2011
Contact: Samantha Friedman, office: (202) 265-3000 or cell: (202) 215-9260 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Virginia Corrections Has Done Its Part, but State Legislature Must Establish an Absolute Ban on Shackling Women Prisoners During Childbirth

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to the Virginia Department of Corrections (DOC) decision to strengthen and expand existing policies banning shackling of pregnant inmates during labor, delivery and post- recovery, Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, released the following statement:

“The National Religious Campaign Against Torture is pleased that Virginia Department of Corrections Director Harold Clarke has taken another important step to protect mothers and children by building off of existing practice and agreeing to strengthen and expand department-wide the DOC’s policy limiting the practice of shackling women prisoners during childbirth.  However, the cruel and inhumane practice of shackling in Virginia is a problem beyond the jurisdiction of the DOC.  Restraining inmates who are in labor still occurs in some local and regional correctional facilities.  Virginia should join the 13 states that have enacted legislation to prohibit this barbaric practice. 

For Immediate Release: August 18, 2011

Contact: Samantha Friedman, office: (202) 265-3000 or cell: (202) 215-9260 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The California state prison system has recently received significant press and public attention due to a three-week-long hunger strike by thousands of prison inmates protesting prison conditions, particularly the use of prolonged solitary confinement.  In response to ongoing issues raised regarding the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s use of solitary confinement, the California State Assembly Committee on Public Safety has called a public hearing on the matter for 1:30-3:30 p.m., Tuesday, August 23.

Supporters of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture will join fellow opponents of prolonged solitary confinement at a rally outside the California State Capitol on Tuesday in advance of the hearing.  Additionally, NRCAT members will deliver to Gov. Jerry Brown’s office a packet of more than 600 endorsements by California residents of NRCAT’s statement calling for federal and state governments to end the use of prolonged solitary confinement.  In addition, copies of the packet will be sent to Secretary of Corrections and Rehabilitation Matthew Cate, and the members of the California State Legislature.

For Immediate Release: August 15, 2011
Contact: Samantha Friedman, office: (202) 265-300 or cell: (202) 215-9260 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to the recent decision by a federal appeals court to allow a lawsuit to proceed against former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for allegedly ordering the torture of two American citizens, Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), released the following statement:

“We do not know if Donald Rumsfeld is guilty of ordering the torture of two U.S. citizens who were contractors in Iraq; that is for the courts to decide.  But the decision by a federal appeals court to allow a lawsuit against the former Secretary of Defense now permits the courts to determine if he ordered – or was responsible for authorizing – the torture of these two contractors.  No one should be above the law, and no one should be protected from a lawsuit just because he once held a high position in the government.

For Immediate Release: July 22, 2011
Contact: Samantha Friedman, office: (202) 265-300 or cell: (202) 215-9260 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to California state prison inmates’ announcement today that they have called an end to a three-week hunger strike, Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, released the following statement, calling attention to the use of prolonged solitary confinement in U.S. state and federal prisons:

“Hunger strikes are the last resort of prisoners protesting inhumane conditions.  At Pelican Bay State Prison, the epicenter of the California prison hunger strike, hundreds of prisoners are held in prolonged solitary confinement, a practice that qualifies as torture due to its destructive physical and psychological effects.  Inmates in California voluntarily starved themselves for the last three weeks in order to protest these inhumane conditions.

For Immediate Release: July 15, 2011
Contact: Samantha Friedman, office: (202) 265-300 or cell: (202) 215-9260 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

CALIFORNIA GOVERNMENT MUST RESPOND TO INMATE HUNGER STRIKE BY IMPROVING PRISON CONDITIONS
Religious Coalition Says California’s Use of Prolonged Solitary Confinement is Tantamount to Torture

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to the ongoing hunger strike by inmates incarcerated in multiple California prisons, Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, released the following statement:

Hunger strikes are the last resort of prisoners protesting inhumane confinement conditions. We have seen prisoners protest their treatment in this manner at Guantanamo Bay, and now inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison in northern California – among various other prisons in California – are taking similar drastic measures. At Pelican Bay, hundreds of prisoners are held in prolonged solitary confinement, a practice that qualifies as torture due to its destructive physical and psychological effects on human beings. Conditions are so bad in California, these inmates prefer to starve themselves – possibly to death – rather than live another week in prolonged solitary confinement.

For Immediate Release: July 1, 2011

Contact: Samantha Friedman, (202) 265-300 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

DOJ DOES THE RIGHT THING IN INVESTIGATING TWO DEATHS, BUT MUCH IS LEFT UNDONE
Religious Coalition Says Commission of Inquiry into Torture is Even More Necessary

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement yesterday on the conclusion of the preliminary investigation into the CIA’s use of torture on detainees, Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, released the following statement:

“The National Religious Campaign Against Torture is pleased that the Department of Justice has agreed to investigate the torture deaths of two detainees.  However, our country has a long way to go before we come to terms with the dark, dark deeds that some U.S. officials committed on detainees in the aftermath of 9-11.  We know CIA interrogators subjected detainees to waterboarding, extremes of heat and cold, sleep deprivation, long-term isolation, sensory deprivation and stress positions, among other abuses.  To all appearances, the CIA then chose to conceal the evidence of these crimes by destroying the videotapes documenting them.

For Immediate Release: June 2, 2011
Contact: Samantha Friedman, (202) 215-9260 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Under the authoritarian military dictatorship that ruled Argentina in the 1970s, Argentinean citizen Juan Méndez was locked away in a detention center outside Buenos Aires. From 1975-77, his government held him captive in Unit 9 as a political detainee, subjecting him to torture through the electric prod.

But more than 30 years later, Méndez today serves the United Nations as its Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. In that role and guided by the principles of the UN Convention Against Torture, he investigates charges of torture by governmental entities worldwide. Based in Washington, D.C., he is also a Visiting Professor of Law at The American University’s Washington College of Law.

For Immediate Release: May 26, 2011

Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , (202) 265-3000

(Washington, DC) Earlier today, the House of Representatives voted to expand the current authorization for the use of military force and thereby give the Executive branch additional powers to detain individuals indefinitely without trial. A bi-partisan amendment to the FY 2012 National Defense Authorization Act to remove this expansion was voted down on a 234 to 187 vote. Rev. Richard Killmer, the Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture released this statement responding to the vote:

“The House of Representatives made a major mistake today when it voted to expand the authorization for the use of military force and to give the President additional authority to detain people indefinitely. Indefinite detention without trial is un-American and immoral. The President did not seek this additional authority – in fact he threatened to veto the National Defense Authorization Act if it contained it. Yet, the House voted down a bi-partisan effort to remove this provision from the bill. Congress acted out of fear and sacrificed our fundamental values.”

PRESS RELEASE

(Washington, D.C.)  A coalition of national religious leaders sent a letter to the House Armed Services Committee today expressing their opposition to legislation to give the Executive Branch additional powers to indefinitely detain individuals without trial.  The leaders, who come from a variety of faith traditions including Protestant, Jewish, Catholic, and Sikh, write: