Dear Friends,

A year ago this week, the national conversation around solitary confinement was transformed by the introduction of the End Solitary Confinement Act (ESCA) in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Cori Bush and 13 original co-sponsors including Reps. Jamaal Bowman, Adriano Espaillat, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Rashida Tlaib, and Bonnie Watson Coleman. This historic legislation would adopt proven alternatives to solitary confinement and end this torturous practice in federal prisons, jails, and immigration detention facilities. 

TAKE ACTION: Ask Your Members of Congress to Co-Sponsor the Bill

In December 2023, a Senate companion bill was introduced by Sen. Ed Markey, with original co-sponsors Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Peter Welch, on the 10th anniversary of South African President Nelson Mandela’s death. Mandela was a survivor of almost six years in solitary confinement as a political prisoner and is the namesake of the United Nation’s “Mandela Rules” generally prohibiting solitary.

A year after this historic bill’s introduction, we invite you to write to your U.S. Senators and Representative to ask them to co-sponsor the End Solitary Confinement Act, HR4972/S3409 using NRCAT’s e-advocacy platform.

Twenty-seven members of the U.S. House and six members of the U.S. Senate are currently co-sponsors of ESCA. Watch and share this video (Instagram, Facebook, X/Twitter) in support of the bill by Rep. Cori Bush. If one or more of your Members of Congress is already a co-sponsor, the system will prompt you to send a thank you message. More than 180 organizations have thus far stepped up to endorse the bill, including more than 30 religious organizations.

You can learn more about the bill and tell others about it using this NRCAT toolkit. The End Solitary Confinement Act would establish limits on solitary confinement measured up to at most four hours for emergency de-escalation, require people in alternative forms of separation to have access to full days of out-of-cell time and group engagement, guarantee due process rights for individuals facing these alternative forms of separation, and establish robust oversight.

Your support is needed today to help us add more co-sponsors for this important bill that will make prisons, detention centers and communities safer for everyone, without torturing the most vulnerable among us.

Thank you for continuing to stand up for human rights for all.

In hope and determination,
The NRCAT Team, Ron, T.C., Johnny, Laura, Michael and Nicole