The Senator Blumenthal Amendment 2 to the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S.744) is an amendment that would limit the harmful practice of solitary confinement in immigration detention facilities. The amendment would prohibit the use of solitary confinement for children, limit its use for those with severe mental illness, and require the Department of Homeland Security to develop effective oversight mechanisms.
We urge you to take action today by expressing your support for the Blumenthal Amendment 2 to your Senator on the Judiciary Committee using the sample email we have prepared. You are invited to customize it and send it to your Senator. If asked, please enter your zipcode so we can identify if you have a Senator on the Committee.
On Monday, May 13, the California Senate Standing Committee on Appropriations will host a hearing to consider Senate Bill 61(Yee), a bill that would limit the harmful practice of solitary confinement of youth in the juvenile justice system in California. In good news, the bill passed the Senate Committee on Public Safety at its hearing on April 23 - thanks to those of you who wrote to that committee.
We urge you to take action today by expressing your support for S.B. 61 to members of the appropriations committee using the sample email we have prepared. You are invited to customize it and send it to the Committee.
During a press conference on April 30, President Obama reiterated his belief that the United States needs to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Later in the day, 38 religious leader released a public letter sent to the President and all members of Congress, describing the desperate situation at Guantanamo and calling on President Obama and Congress to back the President’s words with action by expeditiously moving to close the prison there. Click here to read the letter and see the list of 38 religious leaders.
Please add your name to the letter in support of closing Guantanamo. If you wish to sign the petition but not to have your name displayed, please click the box beside "Display in list as Anonymous".
On April 16th, a bipartisan Blue Ribbon panel called the “Task Force on Detainee Treatment,” an effort of The Constitution Project, released a major report that indisputably demonstrates that our government leaders were responsible for illegal and horrific acts of torture. It details how the decision to use torture was made, how our leaders handpicked lawyers who would manipulate the law in an attempt to claim torture was legal, and how, once torture was authorized, “it occurred in many instances and across a wide range of theaters.”
Among other recommendations, the Task Force recommends that “the executive branch should declassify evidence regarding the CIA’s and military’s abuse and torture of captives, including, but not limited to … [t]he Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the CIA’s treatment of detainees.” Please email President Obama and tell him that you hope he recognizes the importance of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report and will act to ensure that Americans know the facts about torture. In particular, the President should promise that his Administration will support the work of the Senate Intelligence Committee, declassify as much of the Senate Intelligence Committee report as possible, and encourage the Committee to release its important report to the public.
On Tuesday, April 23, the California Senate Committee on Public Safety will host a hearing to consider Senate Bill 61(Yee), a bill that would limit the harmful practice of solitary confinement of youth in the juvenile justice system in California. The hearing marks a critical opportunity for people of faith to express support for ending solitary confinement of young people in California.
We urge you to take action today by expressing your support for S.B. 61 to members of the committee using the sample email we have prepared. You are invited to customize it and send it to the Committee.
Guantanamo detainees have been on a hunger strike since February to protest their conditions and indefinite detention. On May 1, news reports indicate that at least 100 of the 166 detainees are currently involved in the hunger strike. Dozens of the prisoners at Guantanamo continue to be held despite having been cleared for release.
Show your support for the closure of Guantanamo by emailing your Members of Congress and the President to remind them that you expect them to close it.
If prompted, please enter your zip code in the box below. We have prepared sample language, which you are welcome to modify.
End Prolonged Solitary Confinement Now
During the next several months, Congress will consider whether or not to increase funding for the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture. The Fund provides important support for torture treatment programs around the world. The U.S. has long been the Fund’s strongest supporter, though in recent years the U.S. contribution to the Fund has declined from a peak of approximately $7 million to about $6 million. Please write to your Members of Congress and ask for an increase in support for the Fund.
UPDATE: The Committee adjourned before a vote, so it's not too late to write today!
On Monday, March 18, the Florida Senate Committee on Criminal Justice hosteda hearing in Tallahassee to consider Senate Bill 812, “Youth in Solitary Confinement,” a bill that includes provisions that strictly limit the use of solitary confinement of both children under 18 years old and “youthful offenders.”
We urge you to take action today by expressing your support of S.B. 812 to members of the committee by utilizing the form below. Note: This action is limited to residents of Florida.
Write to your Senator on the Senate Intelligence Committee and thank him or her for the Committee's questions about torture during the confirmation hearings for John Brennan to be the new CIA Director. If prompted, please enter your zipcode to identify the proper Senator.
Last year, the Senate Intelligence Committee adopted a report on its multi-year investigation into CIA torture. The information in this report needs to be released to the public. The public needs to see the facts showing that torture harmed our national security. Also, the report may provide the information necessary to put in place new safeguards to prevent the use of torture in the future.
Add your name to the statement.
Last year, the Senate Intelligence Committee adopted a report on its multi-year investigation into CIA torture. The information in this report needs to be released to the public. The public needs to see the facts showing that torture harmed our national security. Also, the report may provide the information necessary to put in place new safeguards to prevent the use of torture in the future.
Enter your zipcode and use this form to write to the President and if prompted, your Senator. Please feel free to modify the email(s).
Last year, the Senate Intelligence Committee adopted a report on its multi-year investigation into CIA torture. The information in this report needs to be released to the public. The public needs to see the facts showing that torture harmed our national security. Also, the report may provide the information necessary to put in place new safeguards to prevent the use of torture in the future.
Please enter your zipcode in the box below. The senator for your state and a sample email will appear. Please feel free to modify the email.
Last year, the Senate Intelligence Committee adopted a report on its multi-year investigation into CIA torture. The information in this report needs to be released to the public. The public needs to see the facts showing that torture harmed our national security. Also, the report may provide the information necessary to put in place new safeguards to prevent the use of torture in the future.
Please write to President Obama today to ask him to support the release of the report. We have provided you with a sample email that you can modify.
Last year, the Senate Intelligence Committee adopted a report on its multi-year investigation into CIA torture. The information in this report needs to be released to the public. The public needs to see the facts showing that torture harmed our national security. Also, the report may provide the information necessary to put in place new safeguards to prevent the use of torture in the future.
Please enter your zipcode in the box below. The senator for your state and a sample email will appear. Please feel free to modify the email.
Four years ago, President Obama made a historic commitment to halt our nation's use of torture and close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. While he deserves a large amount of credit for halting torture, he has not yet fulfilled his commitment to close Guantanamo.
Please email the President to remind him of the importance of closing the prison at Guantanamo.
We have written a model email which you are welcome to modify and send to President Obama.
Please email President Obama and encourage him to assist the Senate Intelligence Committee in quickly releasing as much information as possible from the CIA torture report.
On December 13, 2012, nine members of the Senate Intelligence Committee voted to adopt the Committee's report on CIA torture. Please write to your Senator to say thank you for his or her vote. If prompted, please enter your zipcode (if you are not represented by one of the nine Senators, a note will appear will appear).
Please email your Members of Congress and the President now and remind them that you expect them to close the prison at Guantanamo! House and Senate negotiators are currently considering including in the final version of the FY 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) restrictions that would make it more difficult to transfer detainees out of Guantanamo. If those restrictions are signed into law, they will create new challenges to the President's promise to close Guantanamo which he reiterated only two months ago.
Please enter your zipcode in the box below. You can then customize the sample email.
In a few short days, Congress is expected to send the President legislation (the FY 2013 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA) that would place severe restrictions on transferring detainees out of Guantanamo. These restrictions would make it much more difficult for the President to fulfill his promise to close Guantanamo.
Please fill out the fields below to email President Obama to ask him to veto the NDAA. By vetoing the NDAA, the President can take an important step toward closing Guantanamo and putting an end to that important symbol of torture.
Please use this sample email to contact your legislators and tell them to vote NO on efforts to restore Tamms’ Correctional Center funding. Many inmates suffer life-long physiological and psychological harm as a result of the extreme isolation utilized at Tamms. The closure of Tamms would be both a symbolic and tangible victory for the fight to end prolonged solitary confinement.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is currently finishing a multi-year investigation into the torture of detainees. The results of this investigation could show that torture is not a useful interrogation technique and has made our nation more unsafe. Releasing the results of this investigation may also lead to safeguards being put in place to help prevent torture from occurring in the future.
Please enter your zipcode in the box below. If your state has a key Senator for the vote their name and a sample email will appear.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is currently finishing a multi-year investigation into the torture of detainees. The results of this investigation could show that torture is not a useful interrogation technique and has made our nation more unsafe. Releasing the results of this investigation may also lead to safeguards being put in place to help prevent torture from occurring in the future.
Please enter your zipcode in the box below. If your state has a key senator for the vote their name and a sample email will appear. We ask everyone to write to President Obama to ask him to push for the release of the results of this investigation.
Each year, the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) sentences thousands upon thousands of prisoners to spend months, and even years, in Special Housing Units (SHU), where they are subject to extreme forms of isolation and deprivation. For more details about the scope of the problem in New York, visit www.nyclu.org/BoxedIn to access the NYCLU's new report "Boxed In: The True Cost of Extreme Isolation in New York's Prisons."
In October 2012, we partnered with other organizations for several advocacy events, including a town hall discussion about isolation with New York state legislators on October 4, 2012. We need to continue pressing this issue with New York policymakers.
Please use this sample email to write to your New York state legislators today. If you would like, you can customize the message. If asked, please enter your zipcode so that your legislators can be identified.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is currently finishing a multi-year investigation into the torture of detainees. The results of this investigation could show that torture is not a useful interrogation technique and has made our nation more unsafe. Releasing the results of this investigation may also lead to safeguards being put in place to help prevent torture from occurring in the future.
Please email President Obama to ask him to push for the release of the results of this investigation.
End Prolonged Solitary Confinement Now
The Denver Sheriff Department opened its doors to ABC Nightline reporter, Dan Harris, so he might get a dose of the “American nightmare” over 80,000 inmates are experiencing: solitary confinement. As Harris was escorted to his cell, the guard expressed, “People need to know what goes on here.” During his stay, one of Harris’ fellow inmates stripped off his clothes, urinated all over the floor, then ripped up and shoved pages of the Bible under his cell door in a desperate, but unsuccessful, attempt for a human response. View the video of the Nightline show.
In 2012, Colorado has made significant reforms to limit the use of solitary confinement. However, Colorado must still do more to move individuals with mental illness out of solitary confinement and into appropriate facilities where they can receive treatment.
Please use the form below to send an email to tell Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Corrections Tom Clements that Colorado’s mentally ill should not be warehoused in solitary confinement (enter your zipcode if prompted).
People from AZ, CA, CO, FL, IN, MD, ME, MI, ND, NV, OR, VA, and WV have a Senator who will play a key role in determining whether the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture is released to the public. Please fill out this form to email your Senator and ask him or her to support releasing the report.
"Either companionship or death!" (B. Ta'anit 23a)
This Talmudic cry points to the necessity of companionship for human life. Honi HaMa'agel, a Rip Van Winkle-like character, awakes from a long sleep to learn that his friends and family are long since gone. Life without companionship, he decides, is just not worth it.
At the beginning of Genesis, we read: “It is not good for a human to be alone.” (Genesis 2:18) From the very beginning of human existence, there is an awareness that people are social creatures, designed to be in community with others. Genesis also teaches us that every human being – no matter what their behavior might be – is created in God’s image, b’tzelem elohim. Therefore, to intentionally torture, humiliate or degrade another human is akin to degrading the divine.
On any given day in the United States, more than 80,000 people suffer in solitary confinement, long considered a form of torture. They are confined in small cells for 23 hours per day for weeks, months, and sometimes up to thirty years, deprived of any meaningful human contact. Many studies have documented the detrimental psychological and physiological effects of long-term solitary confinement, including hallucinations, perceptual distortions, panic attacks, and suicide. The toll on the mentally ill and juveniles is particularly harrowing. Many experts have long considered solitary confinement to be a form of torture.
T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights joins with the National Religious Campaign Against Torture in its efforts to end the use of prolonged solitary confinement in American prisons. Take action today by signing the NRCAT interfaith statement below calling for an end to the use of prolonged solitary confinement.
End Prolonged Solitary Confinement Now
Please email your Senators today to urge them to pass the National Criminal Justice Commission Act. There has not been a comprehensive review of our national criminal justice system in over 40 years, and it is well past time. This bill would create a bi-partisan panel to review all aspects of our criminal justice system and would have the ability to make recommendations for ending torture and abuse of prisoners.
Please email your Senators today. Below is a model email you can use (if prompted, enter your zipcode). Please feel free to personalize it.
On May 22, the Washington Post reported that dozens of prisoners at Virginia’s supermax facility, Red Onion State Prison, began a hunger strike to protest prison conditions, including the use of prolonged solitary confinement. Use the model email below to ask that Governor McDonnell demonstrate good faith to limit the use of solitary confinement by allowing independent experts to assist in reforms.
After using independent experts to review its policies, the Colorado Department of Corrections is implementing the experts’ recommendations and has already removed 400 prisoners from solitary confinement. This month, the Colorado legislature passed a bill (HB 1337), which closes a solitary confinement unit, Colorado State Penitentiary II, by February 2013.
You can customize the sample email below to thank Governor Hickenlooper and Colorado Department of Corrections Executive Director Tom Clements for their leadership in decreasing the use of solitary confinement in Colorado’s prisons.
Because he was suspected of a connection with terrorism, the U.S. sent Maher Arar to Syria to be tortured. Released without charge, allowed to return home to Canada, and cleared of any connection to terrorism, Maher Arar received an apology and compensation from the Canadian government for its role in his treatment. An apology from the United States is long overdue. For more information, click here.
Nearly 200 men are currently housed at the Tamms Correctional Center in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. Some have been there for over ten years. Many suffer life-long physiological and psychological harm as a result of this extreme isolation. These men can be safely transitioned to other facilities, which would save Illinois millions of dollars. Closing Tamms makes moral and fiscal sense.
Use the model email below to ask your state legislator to advocate for cutting Tamms Correctional Center funds during the budget process. Enter your zipcode if prompted. Please note: This is only available to Illinois residents.
A bill banning the use of “foreign law” was passed almost unanimously in both houses of Kansas state government during the week of May 14. While the bill does not specifically cite Shari’ah (Islamic law), both supporters and opponents of the bill recognize that its main objective is to keep Shari’ah law from being applied within the United States.
The legislation is wrong on two counts: one, it is unnecessary as the U.S. Constitution already requires that the “Constitution and the Laws of the United States” made pursuant to the Constitution “shall be the supreme Law of the Land”; two it is clearly part of a trend of anti-Muslim sentiment in this country that is becoming all-too common. There have been similar initiatives in over 20 states across the country.
Please tell Governor Brownback to veto SB 79 and help stop the demonization of American Muslims. You can customize the letter below to write to Governor Brownback (enter your zipcode if prompted). Please note: This is only available to Kansas residents.
During the week of May 14, we expect the House of Representatives to vote on an amendment offered by Representatives Adam Smith and Justin Amash that will limit the use of indefinite military detention without trial. The vote on this bi-partisan amendment is likely to be close, and your emails are crucial to its chances of passage.
People who are indefinitely detained are more likely to be mistreated in other ways. In addition, prolonged indefinite detention can, by itself, cause psychological trauma. By expressing your support for the Smith-Amash amendment, you can help limit our country’s use of indefinite detention. Please write to your Representative today. If prompted, please enter your zip code so that your Representative can be identified.
Former CIA agent Jose Rodriguez recently went on “60 Minutes” to promote his new book about the CIA torture program. He was given two-thirds of the program to make the case for torture. No one appeared on the program to present the other side of the story – to make the case for torture being immoral, illegal, and ineffective.
People from AZ, CA, CO, FL, IN, MD, ME, MI, ND, NV, OR, VA, and WV have a Senator who will play a key role in determining whether the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture is released to the public. Please fill out this form to email your Senator and ask him or her to support releasing the report.
SB-1363 sought to remedy current deficiencies in law regarding the use of solitary confinement in juvenile facilities and to curb its overuse and abuse. The California State Senate Standing Committee on Public Safety voted on SB-1363 on April 17, 2012. Senators Hancock, Liu, and Steinberg voted in favor of the bill, but unfortunately the bill was defeated by Senators Anderson, Calderon, Harman, and Price, who voted in opposition. Please enter your zip code below and a model email to your Senator will appear that expresses appropriate thanks or disappointment.
Use the model email below to ask your State Senator to follow through on Governor Quinn’s proposal to close Tamms by cutting its funds. Please note, this email is limited to residents of Illinois with members on the Illinois Senate Appropriations Committee. For more on our work in Illinois, click here.
SB-1363 seeks to fix current deficiencies in law regarding the use of solitary confinement in juvenile facilities and to curb its overuse and abuse. The California State Senate Standing Committee on Public Safety is scheduled to vote on SB-1363 on April 17, 2012. Please help protect California youth by using the model email below to contact your California State Senator.
Please note, this email is limited to residents of California with members on the State Senate Standing Committee on Public Safety. For more on our work in California, click here.
Help us pass legislation to limit the use of indefinite military detention by writing to your Senators and Representative. Late last year, Congress passed legislation specifically authorizing the use of indefinite military detention without trial of people suspected of being associated with Al Qaeda. Supporters of this provision stated that their intention was to allow even people captured on American soil to be detained without trial.
Senator Mark Udall and Representative Adam Smith have introduced legislation to prevent the possibility of people captured on U.S. soil from being detained indefinitely without trial. Please help them gather support for this important legislation by asking your Members of Congress to co-sponsor the legislation. You can use the form below to send emails to your Members of Congress (enter your zipcode if prompted).
Last week the Virginia Department of Corrections reported on its plans to make some reforms to the improve administrative segregation at Red Onion State Prison. Please use the sample email below to ask Governor McDonnell to request that the Virginia Department of Corrections invite independent and objective experts to assist in implementing comprehensive reforms to its use of solitary confinement. Such independent review has been essential for other states in successfully implementing alternatives to solitary confinement. For more information, click here.
This action is only available to individuals with a Virginia address, so if prompted please enter your zipcode.
Two years ago, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture helped raise the visibility of evidence that health professionals had engaged in illegal and unethical human experimentation involving the torture of detainees. Legislation proposed by State Representative Jason Lewis and State Senator James B. Eldridge bars all Massachusetts-licensed health care professionals from participating in the torture, abusive treatment and interrogation of prisoners. The bill also requires health care professionals to report instances of torture or abusive treatment of prisoners and provides protection for those who refuse to participate in prohibited acts. This law will further help prevent abuse by providing health care professionals with an additional legal basis to resist unlawful and unethical orders.
The bill is a needed step to ensure that the well-documented complicity and direct participation of physicians and other health professionals in torture at Guantánamo Bay and elsewhere will not be repeated.
The bill is currently before the Judiciary and Public Health Committees - please write the Committee chairs to urge their support for the bill. To write to the Committee chairs, you can customize the sample email and then fill out the requested information. If prompted, please enter your zipcode since this action is restricted to Massachusetts residents.
Governor Quinn has proposed closing Illinois’ only supermax prison – the Tamms Correctional Center (Tamms) in southern Illinois. Roughly 200 men are currently housed at Tamms in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. Some have been there for years. Many suffer life-long physiological and psychological harm as a result of this extreme isolation. Use the model email to tell Gov. Quinn you support his decision to close Tamms and to transfer the existing inmates to more humane facilities.
NOTE: This action is only available to residents of Illinois. Not in Illinois? Please add your name to our statement calling for an end to the use of prolonged solitary confinement. Click here to sign the petition today.
The Virginia Senate Rules Committee passed an amended version of SJR 93, a resolution that directs the Virginia State Crime Commission to conduct a study of solitary confinement in the state of Virginia. The Virginia Senate is expected to vote on SJR 93 early next week (week of Feb 13), and if it passes, the House could vote on it soon after. For more information on our work on solitary confinement, please visit www.nrcat.org/prisons.
Please ask your State Senator and Delegate to vote yes on SJR 93!
NOTE: This action is only available to individuals who provide a Virginia address. If prompted, please enter your zipcode to continue.
A Virginia House bill, HB 836, would establish increased safeguards against the practice of shackling women prisoners during childbirth. Click here for more information about this practice.
Please enter your zipcode (if prompted) and fill out the information to write to your delegate of the Virginia House. Only individuals providing a Viriginia address will be able to take part.
Despite significant opposition from groups across the political spectrum (far left to far right) and a concerted effort by those of us in the faith community, Senate and House negotiators have drafted a final version of the National Defense Authorization Act that includes specific authorization for the use of long-term indefinite detention without trial. Both supporters and opponents of this provision have even argued that it would allow for the indefinite detention without trial of American citizens captured in the United States who are merely suspected of being affiliated with a terrorist group.
This provision, along with provisions making it more difficult to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, are on the verge of passing Congress as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. President Obama has previously threatened to veto the bill if these provisions were included. Today (12/14), however, his senior advisors released a statement saying that they would not recommend a veto. We need President Obama to follow through on his original veto threat.
Please contact President Obama now.
You can tweet him: @whitehouse No indefinite detention; no Guantanamo: #VetoNDAA http://bit.ly/tvLNUi @NRCATtweets
You can call the White House and tell President Obama to “Veto the National Defense Authorization Act” at 202-456-1111.
And you can use the model email below to email him. Please use as many of these means of contact as possible. A Presidential veto is the only way left to stop these provisions.
In the Senate version of the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, there is a provision, Section 7060, which would make funding available for assistance to eliminate torture by foreign police, military, and other security services. The same provision would also require the State Department to identify countries receiving U.S. assistance that use torture.
House and Senate negotiators are currently meeting to determine what will be in the final “Omnibus” appropriations bill that will fund government for the next year. We think that they should include this assistance to help end torture around the world.
Representatives Norm Dicks, Peter Visclosky, Nita Lowey, Jose Serrano, Rosa DeLauro, James Moran, David Price, and Sanford Bishop are among the negotiators who will decide what is in the final bill. If one of them is your Representative, please write to him or her and ask that they include Section 7060 from the Senate State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill in the final “Omnibus.”
Three years ago, President Obama made a historic commitment to halt our nation’s use of torture and to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Unfortunately, like with so many good deeds, the details of how to close Guantanamo have proven to be more difficult than almost anyone imagined.
Please write to President Obama to express your support for his efforts to close Guantanamo. It is important for the President to know that people of faith support closing Guantanamo and recognize it for what it is – a symbol of our nation’s past use of torture.
We have written a model email which you are welcome to modify and send to the President. You can do so by filling out the fields on this page.
To add your name to this Call please enter your information below.
NRCAT is concerned about recent allegations of retribution against California prisoners participating in the hunger strike to protest their conditions of confinement. In response to the resumed prisoner hunger strike, prison officials have reportedly denied prisoners’ access to visitors and sent more prisoners to solitary confinement units. Please send an email to Governor Brown now! Urge him to stop the retaliatory measures immediately and to initiate reforms to improve prison conditions.
Please write to your Members of Congress and tell them not to be misled by former Vice President Cheney – torture is always wrong! This week, Mr. Cheney is in Washington, DC, promoting his book – and torture – as Congress returns to work. Unfortunately, some Members of Congress still believe that our nation should use torture – euphemistically called “enhanced” interrogation techniques – and Cheney’s book may embolden them. We need to urge all Members of Congress to oppose Mr. Cheney’s message and resist all efforts to enact legislation that would allow our nation to resume the use of torture.
Please encourage Assemblymembers Tom Ammiano, Holly Mitchell, and Nancy Skinner by using this model email to thank them for their strong leadership in this week’s California State Assembly Committee on Public Safety’s hearing on the use of solitary confinement. Feel free to modify the language of the model email as you see fit or send it as is. Your e-mail will automatically be sent to all three Assemblymembers.
Please send an email to your Assemblymember asking them to attend the Public Safety Committee’s hearing on the use of solitary confinement in Pelican Bay and other California prisons on Tuesday, August 23. This is an important opportunity to educate legislators about the inhumane and ineffective use of solitary confinement. Please enter your zipcode (if prompted) and fill out the information to write to your member of the California Assembly.
End Prolonged Solitary Confinement Now
Hunger strikes are the last resort of prisoners protesting inhumane conditions of confinement. We have seen that happen at Guantanamo, and now it is happening at Pelican Bay State Prison in northern California, where hundreds of prisoners are held in prolonged solitary confinement, a form of torture.
Prisoners across the state launched a hunger strike on July 1, demanding changes for prisoners in long-term solitary confinement in the “Special Housing Unit” (SHU). Conditions are so bad they have preferred to starve themselves to death rather than live another week in such torturous conditions and let future prisoners endure the same conditions.
Please take action today to prevent these prisoners from dying! Modify the sample text below to send an e-mail to Governor Brown urging that the hunger strike be addressed in a humane and rational way.
Note: If you are not a CA resident, enter 95814 in the first zipcode field (or any CA zipcode) and then on the full address form put your own mailing address and zipcode.
On June 23, in a hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on his nomination to be the Director of the CIA, General Petraeus suggested that the U.S. needed procedures for using “more than the normal [interrogation] techniques” during a ticking time bomb-like incident. But there are no situations -- even a ticking time-bomb -- in which torture is permissible, moral, or legal. General Petraeus has opened a door that he and President Obama need to close. Please write to President Obama and ask him to publicly reject General Petraeus' June 23rd testimony on "more than normal" interrogation techniques.
As people of faith, we know that, above all, our country must act morally. General Petraeus may have misstated his own position, but he and President Obama need to immediately reaffirm their unequivocal opposition to torture in all instances.
President Obama has said that the Department of Defense reported to him that Bradley Manning was being treated appropriately – in accordance with our “basic standards.” If the press reports are true, however, Manning was held in solitary confinement for an extensive period of time. We want President Obama, the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, and the Bureau of Prisons to understand that prolonged solitary confinement is inappropriate for all prisoners.
NRCAT believes that the President should direct the Bureau of Prisons or another appropriate agency to investigate the use of solitary confinement in federal and state prisons and ask for recommendations to limit its use and to minimize its harm.
Please send an email to the President asking for an investigation into the use of prolonged solitary confinement in U.S. prisons.
The Senate Intelligence Committee has carried out a 2 year investigation into the CIA’s interrogation practices. The information in the report on this investigation will be crucial for ensuring that torture does not happen again. We need this information to be made public!
Please fill in the form below to email your Senators and ask them to do what they can to ensure that the report on the Intelligence Committee investigation into our past interrogation practices be made public. (If prompted, please enter your zipcode.)
HB 3764 would direct the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to submit an annual report to the Legislature on the use of solitary confinement (“administrative segregation”) in the Texas prison system, and to establish a plan to improve the conditions of confinement for those prisoners held in administrative segregation. Read more background information.
Tell your Representative to support HB 3764.
The Convention Against Torture, a treaty that the U.S. is part of, prohibits torture. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen, that treaty wasn’t sufficient to prevent us (or, for that matter, many other signatory countries) from using torture. There is a newer treaty, called the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) that would strengthen the Convention Against Torture by providing oversight at places of confinement. The U.S. has not signed this treaty; however it is important that we do so. We must take this step to help permanently end torture.
One of your Senators is on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the committee of jurisdiction for OPCAT. Please fill out the form to send an email to your Senator asking him or her to support OPCAT.
On January 22, 2009, President Obama issued an executive order that, among other things, requires all government agencies to provide the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) with access to detainees. This was a huge step toward protecting detainees from abuse, because detainees are much less likely to be abused when there is an independent agency monitoring their treatment. Because this step was taken by executive order, however, it is not permanent. A future President can revoke it by issuing a new executive order.
Please contact your Members of Congress and ask them to support legislation to make permanent the policy of allowing the ICRC access to all detainees.
National Religious Campaign Against Torture
110 Maryland Avenue, NE, Suite 502
Washington, DC 20002