Dear Friends, 

I invite you to join NRCAT in a VIRTUAL Day of Action to End Solitary next Thursday, May 16. Sign-up here to join online lobby meetings with the offices of Members of Congress who are being asked to support and sponsor the End Solitary Confinement Act (ESCA). An optional advocacy briefing will be provided ahead of time for those who would like to participate. 

Momentum for change in our federal prison system is building. In addition to 6 Senate sponsors and 25 House sponsors who are already on ESCA, last week Senators Edward J. Markey, Elizabeth Warren, Mazie Hirono, and Peter Welch sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland calling for the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to take steps towards ending solitary confinement in BOP facilities.

As we continue to build momentum in Washington, DC, please join NRCAT and the Federal Anti-Solitary Taskforce on Thursday, May 16th for our Virtual Day of Action to End Solitary. You will be standing with survivors of solitary and advocates across the country to broaden the support for the End Solitary Confinement Act, which would end the torture of long-term solitary confinement in federal prisons, jails and immigration detention. 

On a personal note – When I was released from prison in 2013, after serving a sentence that included three years in solitary confinement, solitary was common and unquestioned practice in correctional facilities across the country, at the local, state, and federal level. Over the past decade, I’ve helped survivors and advocates in multiple states fight to restrict solitary – and win – in NJ, NY, CT, NV, and elsewhere. And now, at last, the federal government is shining a light on the practice of solitary with the federal End Solitary Confinement Act.

Use your voice to advocate for the over 10,000 thousand people who are in federal solitary confinement right now. Register here for the VIRTUAL Day of Action to End Solitary on May 16th.

In solidarity,

Johnny Perez
Director, NRCAT’s U.S. Prisons Program