Dear Friends, We join the nation in mourning the killings of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, Dreasjon Reed in Indiana, and George Floyd in Minnesota and the violence of white supremacy that is at the heart of each of these brutal killings. In prayer and protest, we recommit to work for an end to the systemic racism and dehumanization of people of color that justifies this violence and that fills our nation’s prisons, jails, detention centers and solitary confinement cells. Adding to this tragedy, the COVID-19 pandemic has now claimed over 104,000 lives in the U.S., and we fear the economic crisis has only begun to ravage our communities. Through it all our work and mission at the National Religious Campaign Against Torture continues. The racial injustice and the lack of human rights these recent events expose are at times devastating for us, but are just as often motivating. And, like so many others adjusting to COVID-19, much of our advocacy has moved to virtual organizing and online expressions of advocacy and solidarity. Lobby days in support of state solitary confinement legislation have turned into virtual online rallies with activists and legislators, as well as drive-by demonstrations of support for ending solitary at the front doors of state capitols. NRCAT has resourced nearly a dozen national webinars on the danger COVID-19 poses for our loved ones in prison. We have signed onto letters to U.S. House and Senate leadership demanding they include funding and requirements for prison safety measures in federal relief packages. And we will continue to call on governors nationwide to take measures to protect incarcerated people and corrections staff during the pandemic. Negotiations in Congress on the National Defense Authorization Act continue as well, despite challenges posed by the ongoing need to respond to COVID-19. Here NRCAT is pressing once again in the NDAA for important measures like allowing transfers to the U.S. from the prison at Guantanamo for medical purposes and on requiring transparency on reporting civilian deaths from armed drone strikes by the military and the CIA. This is why, for those who are not facing financial hardship during the pandemic, we need your support during our annual June Torture Awareness Month fundraising campaign. We don’t know what impact the economic or health crises may have on the availability of funding for NRCAT from private foundations or our larger individual donors moving forward. Nor do we know how long this crisis may last, or how deep it may go. The one thing we do know is that NRCAT has a loyal base of friends and supporters like yourself. We can always count on you to contribute and keep the work going, and I invite you to donate to NRCAT today. And for those looking for other ways to contribute to NRCAT and may be unable to make a financial donation, please join us this month by volunteering your time to amplify our advocacy efforts. The forces who want to reinstate torture or keep people locked up in solitary confinement do not take a break just because there is a virus on the loose. Our resolve and commitment to building hope and a torture-free world remains strong thanks to you. With hope, Rev. Ron Stief
Executive Director | 
