Dear Friends,

I have had the honor and privilege of serving as President of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture’s Board of Directors for the last 4 years. As a person of faith, I believe deeply in the power of compassion, service and living with a sense of righteous indignation. With our focus on solitary confinement as a form of torture, I am able to live out those values through my work with NRCAT. Today is the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture--and we don't need to look to faraway places to witness the inhumanity that torture inflicts on the body, mind and soul of a person.

Did you know that over 122,000 people are locked away in solitary confinement in our country today? Did you know that some folks are kept in solitary for 10 years, 20 years, even 40 years? Locked in a cement cell the size of a bathroom, alone without any human contact or stimulation 23 hours a day; able to come out and see the sunlight, sometimes, for 1 hour a day. I have met survivors of solitary in my service with NRCAT, and these are people who have suffered unimaginable horrors; and yet, come out with a drive to help others, serve their community and go back into the prisons to support those still locked in solitary. I don't believe that God created us to reign down such misery on our fellow human beings, regardless of the crimes that may have been committed.

Your support helps us to continue the fight to end solitary nationwide. We have had great success in individual states, and at the same time we are working to pass federal legislation in Washington, D.C., the End Solitary Confinement Act, which would end solitary for all incarcerated people currently being held in federal prisons and jails, as well as those in federal immigration detention. We are committed to ending this stain on our nation's justice and penal system at the state and federal levels. Can you contribute today to join the cause?

We have generous donors that are matching contributions up to $30,000--so donate now! I am proud to serve alongside the staff and board of NRCAT, people of faith who share the belief that 'torture is a moral issue,' and that solitary confinement is both torture, and a moral issue, that we must reckon with as a nation.

Thank you for being a part of the solution.

In gratitude,
Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater
NRCAT Board President