NRCAT Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 1, 2016
CONTACT: T.C. Morrow, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 202-547-1920

Policy Recommendations to the 115th Congress and Trump Administration on Behavioral Health Issues in the Criminal Justice System

Washington, DC - The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), a diverse coalition of national and local religious organizations from across the country, endorsed recommendations to the new Congress and Trump Administration on behaviorial health issues in the criminal justice system.  The Consensus Workgroup, including organizations representing individuals with behavioral health needs and their families, providers, and correctional systems and administrators, calls on the Congress and Trump Administration to take a comprehensive approach to addressing issues at the intersection of behavioral health and criminal justice.

The full text of the recommendations can be found here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 28, 2016
CONTACT: T.C. Morrow, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 202-547-1920

Religious and Civil Rights Organizations Call for Investigation into Reports of Torture at the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary
Letter Follows Recent Media Reports of Systemic Abuse and Violence

Washington, DC – Today, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) joined nearly forty civil and human rights organizations, mental health and religious organizations, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the American Civil Liberties Union, and the National Association of Social Workers, in urging the Attorney General to request the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General launch an investigation into the federal Bureau of Prisons’ practices at the Lewisburg federal penitentiary.

The letter to the Attorney General follows recent media reports published by NPR and The Marshall Project uncovering allegations of torture at USP Lewisburg, including the use of prolonged double-celled solitary confinement, restraints, and lack of mental health treatment. The letter states that these reports “mirror years of troubling complaints at this federal facility,” and calls for “greater oversight, transparency and accountability to ensure humane and lawful conditions of confinement.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 18, 2016
CONTACT: Mary Ellen Kramer - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; (347) 509-­5880

Leading Advocacy Groups Sponsor Oct. 20 Event at St. Bart's Church to End Prolonged Solitary Confinement in New York State

NEW YORK, NY - The St. Bart's Church, Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement, Circles of Support, Correctional Association of NY, and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) are sponsoring an event on October 20, 2016 to educate the public about solitary confinement in New York prisons and jails, and to advocate for passage of the Humane Alternatives to Long Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act (A4401/S2659), legislation which would implement humane alternatives to long-term solitary confinement in New York State. In place of isolation, the bill proposes rehabilitative and therapeutic interventions to address the root causes of behavior. This presentation and panel discussion, featuring formerly incarcerated individuals and other subject matter experts, is free and open to the public.

Momentum to confront the practice of solitary confinement in New York State, in states from coast to coast and at the federal level has been steadily growing for the last several years. With the recent growth in media coverage and the historic reforms won in court by the New York Civil Liberties Union in 2016, a grass-roots coalition of local organizations has formed in recent years to build on and continue this forward trajectory.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, September 30, 2016
CONTACT: T.C. Morrow, NRCAT Director of Finance and Operations, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 202-547-1920

Faith Leaders Applaud Introduction of Solitary Confinement Reform Act

Washington, DC - On Wednesday, the Solitary Confinement Reform Act (S. 3432) was introduced in the U.S. Senate, co-sponsored by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Christopher Coons (D-DE), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Al Franken (D-MN).

Rev. Laura Markle Downton,  Director of NRCAT's U.S. Prisons Program, released the following statement:

"We applaud Senators Durbin, Coons, Leahy, Booker, and Franken for their leadership in introducing this important legislation, which takes great strides toward addressing the social moral crisis of solitary confinement. Prolonged isolation serves no rehabilitative purpose, has devastating medical and mental health consequences, jeopardizes facility and community safety, and is globally recognized as a form of torture that should be abolished. In the U.S., the severity of solitary falls disproportionately on people of color, mirroring disproportionate racial impact in policing and sentencing. Communities of faith affirm that there are no throw away people, and the practice of solitary, which survivors often describe as being 'buried alive' must be replaced by therapeutic interventions rooted in human dignity and human potential."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, September 28, 2016
CONTACT: T.C. Morrow, NRCAT Director of Finance and Operations, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 202-547-1920

Interfaith Religious Leaders Applaud Governor Brown for Signing Landmark Legislation to Protect Youth from Long-term Isolation in California Juvenile Facilities

Sacramento, CA – Yesterday, California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 1143, legislation authored by Senator Mark Leno to protect youth from placement in long-term isolation in California’s juvenile facilities. National interfaith religious leaders applauded the Governor for signing this landmark legislation, which limits the immoral practice of placing youth in long-term isolation in California’s juvenile facilities.

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) cosponsored SB 1143 with the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, youth advocates, faith communities, and The Chief Probation Officers of California (CPOC). This summer, NRCAT, T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, and faith leaders delivered “A Religious Call In Support of SB 1143: Toward A Future of Possibility for California’s Youth” to Governor Brown emphasizing the moral significance of SB 1143 and the statewide support of faith leaders representing a diverse array of religious traditions for the legislation.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 22, 2016
CONTACT: T.C. Morrow, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 202-689-5884

Over 200 California Faith Leaders Call on Governor Brown to Support Legislation to Protect Youth from Placement in Long-term Isolation in Juvenile Facilities

Sacramento, CA – Today, California faith leaders and representatives of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) delivered "A Religious Call In Support of SB 1143: Toward A Future of Possibility for California's Youth" to the staff of Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr., signed by more than two hundred California faith leaders representing a diverse array of religious traditions statewide.

The letter to Governor Brown emphasizes the moral significance of SB 1143, legislation to protect youth from long-term isolation in California's juvenile facilities, calling it "an historic opportunity for California to lead the country in setting nationally recognized best standards to improve youth outcomes, in keeping with reforms in states nationwide to limit the use of long-term isolation for youth and adults, in favor of humane alternatives that prioritize rehabilitation and public safety." Earlier this year, President Obama questioned the practice of solitary confinement, describing it as "an affront to our common humanity." He issued a Presidential Memorandum to limit the use of isolation, which includes limits in federal juvenile facilities to a maximum of three hours, and a ban on its use for the purposes of punishment or discipline.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 15, 2016

CONTACT: T.C. Morrow, (202) 547-1920 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

U.S. Faith Coalition Praises Guantanamo Transfers

WASHINGTON – People of faith applauded today when 15 people were transferred from Guantanamo to the United Arab Emirates. The transfer leaves 61 people still detained in Guantanamo more than fourteen years after the prison there was opened.

Matt Hawthorne, Policy Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture released this statement:

"The prison at Guantanamo is a betrayal of our values and a detriment to our security. All people deserve to be treated with dignity and no one should be held for over a decade without trial in an off-shore prison camp designed to be beyond the reach of law. These transfers are a good step. We pray that our government will follow up with further steps to close the prison at Guantanamo forever."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 12, 2016
CONTACT: T.C. Morrow, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 202-547-1920

At a Press Conference Today on the Steps of Cleveland City Hall… A Coalition of Veterans & Leaders of Muslim, LGBTQ & Other Religious and Community Organizations, Called on the RNC to Preempt Hate Speech at Its National Convention in Cleveland Next Week
Not Enough to Repudiate Bigotry After the Fact; Must Make it Clear in Advance that Anti-Muslim Bigotry and Homophobic Remarks Will Not be Tolerated

Cleveland, OH - Preempt the use of anti-Muslim and anti-gay rhetoric by Republican leaders at the upcoming party national convention next week was the strongly worded and oft-repeated message at a press conference on the steps of Cleveland City Hall today, just days before the Republican National Convention begins in this city.

Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture and a United Church of Christ minister joined representatives of Veterans Challenge Islamophobia, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Cleveland Chapter, and the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland for the press conference.

Rev. Stief's statement:

"Good morning, I'm Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture and a Minister in the United Church of Christ.

Earlier this year, leaders of American religious denominations and faith-based organizations wrote a letter to Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus, expressing our concern at the increasingly negative and discriminatory rhetoric we were hearing on the campaign trail, particularly the bigoted rhetoric targeting our Muslim neighbors and community members.

For Immediate Release: June 1, 2016

Contact: Rev. Laura Markle Downton, 609-712-2042

A Statement from Rev. Ron Stief

(Washington, DC) - NRCAT's executive director, Rev. Ron Stief, released the following statement:

"At a time when our world is in need of strong moral leadership, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture is saddened to learn that today during the Clergy Executive Session of the Baltimore-Washington Conference of The United Methodist Church, the clergy did not accept the recommendation of the Board of Ordained Ministry to approve a valued staff member of NRCAT, T.C. Morrow, for provisional membership as a deacon. For nearly a decade, the national interfaith membership of 300 faith organizations in NRCAT have recognized and benefited from T.C.’s tireless determination, pastoral spirit and commitment to justice, and yet these gifts sadly have not been embraced by her own Baltimore-Washington Conference and The United Methodist Church. T.C. is called by God, as are all LGBTQ leaders in our communities and churches whom God has called to ministry, and the UMC is all the poorer for not joining the many faith colleagues across the country who daily bestow the recognition of excellence in professional ministry to T.C. Morrow."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 14, 2016

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

Calling on Political Parties to Address Anti-Muslim Bigotry - Remarks by Rev. Ron Stief

Washington, DC - Today the Shoulder-to-Shoulder: Standing with American Muslims; Upholding American Values campaign called on the Republican and Democratic parties to take a forceful stand against anti-Muslim bigotry, and discrimination against all religious minorities, by adding explicit language to their party platforms at the upcoming nominating conventions. Rev. Ron Stief, chair of the executive committee of Shoulder to Shoulder and executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, spoke from the following prepared remarks during a press conference at the National Press Club:

Today, interfaith leaders have spoken eloquently about the rise of anti-Muslim sentiment and the closing off of religious freedoms that is being felt as candidates for public office express this sentiment. We are here to say that standing Shoulder to Shoulder means that if you attack or speak ill or threaten any aspect of the religious freedoms enjoyed by any one of us, you will have to take us all on.