Welcome to Tuesday. Northern Ireland's government released their report on mother and baby institutions and "Magdalene Laundries" after years of campaigning by groups such as Birth Mothers for Justice. The New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement are working toward legislation to impose limits on the practice of solitary confinement.
Thousands of babies were born to more than 14,000 unwed mothers confined in mother and baby institutions and "Magdalene Laundries" in Northern Ireland between 1922 and 1999. Northern Ireland's government last week released a 534-page report it had commissioned after years of campaigning by Amnesty International and other groups like Birth Mothers for Justice.
Researchers from Queens University Belfast and Ulster University spent 16 months looking into 14 homes and institutions run by Catholic and Protestant churches as well as the state.
The report highlights the attitude to and the treatment of unmarried mothers from as young as 12 years old, some of whom had been raped and others who had become pregnant after incidents of incest.
The new report in Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K., comes shortly after the Republic of Ireland recently released the findings of its own commission of inquiry into mother and baby homes.
You can read more of the story here.
More background:
He used to imagine he was in a park, sitting by the water, basking in the sunlight.
In reality, Victor Pate was in solitary confinement — alone in a 6-by-9-foot prison cell with no windows, the fluorescent lights flickering harshly around the clock.
All around him, he could hear other men screaming, crying, wailing — calling for help. It wasn't long before he started seeing things, hearing voices that weren't there.
"Some people never come back from the voices," Pate said during a Jan. 24 webinar hosted by the metro New York branch of the Catholic social justice group Call to Action. "Some people never come back from the hallucinations."
After his release, Pate became an organizer with the New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement, hoping to impose limits on the practice he and other advocates describe as torture.
The legislation Pate and his comrades are working towards, called the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act, would limit isolated confinement to 15 consecutive days or 20 days total within a 60-day span. It would also ban solitary for people under 21 or over 55, people who are pregnant or nursing, and people with physical or mental disabilities.
You can read more of the story here.
More headlines
Final thoughts
Every Tuesday and Thursday, we post a new Francis comic strip. Throughout the week, we also post stories about Pope Francis' speeches, letters and audiences. You can sign up to receive a twice-weekly Francis Chronicles email with the latest Francis news here.
Until Wednesday,
Stephanie Yeagle
NCR Managing Editor
[email protected]
Twitter: @ncrSLY
