On February 25, 2014 the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights hosted a hearing,"Reassessing Solitary Confinement II: The Human Rights, Fiscal, and Public Safety Consequences," to discuss the on-going widespread use of islolation. View video of the hearing. The second Congressional hearing enabled a national spotlight to again be shown on the torture of solitary confinement, and highlighted the strong political will for addressing solitary confinement at the state level.
NRCAT co-sponsored a gathering of national faith leaders, survivors of solitary confinement and their families, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, and human rights activists in advance of the hearing, to spotlight the continuing national human rights crisis faced by tens of thousands of adults and children held in conditions of isolation. Video of the gathering is available for viewing and sharing - full video to the right and videos of individual speakers below.
Media coverage is available here.
STATEMENTS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD FROM RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS
BRIEFING ON SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
Check out videos from the Feb. 25th gathering of national faith leaders, survivors of solitary confinement and their families, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, and human rights activists. Please share with your friends and community.
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Laura Markle Downton, Director of U.S. Prisons Policy and Program, NRCAT |
Jim Winkler, General Secretary and President, National Council of Churches, delivered an opening prayer |
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Juan Mendez, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture |
Dolores Canales, co-founder of California Families Against Solitary Confinement, whose son is among those enduring solitary confinement in the Security Housing Unit at Pelican Bay Prison in California |
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Five Mualimm-ak, of the New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement, who spent five years in solitary confinement in a New York state prison |
Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., President and CEO, Hip Hop Caucus |
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Galen Carey, Vice President of Government Relations, National Association of Evangelicals |
Amy Fettig, Senior Staff Counsel, ACLU’s National Prison Project |
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Rabbi Rachel Gartner of T’ruah: A Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, led a closing prayer |
Q&A |
WITNESS TESTIMONY AT THE HEARING INCLUDED:
- Damon Thibodeaux, solitary confinement survivor
- Rick Raemisch, Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Corrections
- Charles E. Samuel, Jr., Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons
- Craig DeRoche, President of Justice Fellowship
- Piper Kerman, author and formerly incarcerated
- Marc Levin, Director of the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation
NRCAT invited people of faith to pause for one minute of prayer and silence on Tuesday, February 25 to remember all who are held alone in conditions of isolation.
