Dear Friends, I have an important update to share about our progress in addressing the use of solitary confinement through federal legislation. This week, the Solitary Confinement Study and Reform Act was introduced in the House of Representatives with bipartisan support. The bill creates a bipartisan commission to study the impacts of solitary confinement in the U.S. prison system at the federal, state, and local levels, to establish new national standards on solitary. It requires federal agencies that detain or incarcerate individuals to adopt these standards. Notably, the membership of the commission must consist of at least three formerly incarcerated people or family members of incarcerated people. The legislation authorizes the Attorney General to make grants to states that follow the new national standards and support community mental health programming. Write to your U.S. Representative today to urge them to co-sponsor the Solitary Confinement Study and Reform Act. NRCAT and our allies in the Federal Anti-Solitary Taskforce (FAST) are working in support of this legislation as an important step toward our ultimate goal of ending the torture of isolated confinement once and for all. Your support is needed today to build strong co-sponsorship for this important bill (read the bill text here). Take action today using NRCAT’s model email to hold your Representative accountable to our shared values of human dignity. This legislation comes at a time of heightened urgency for action as reports of human rights abuses in the federal Bureau of Prisons at the Thomson U.S. Penitentiary have led to a formal investigation by the Department of Justice Inspector General, following calls for such an investigation from NRCAT and our allies. Thank you for taking action to support the Solitary Confinement Study and Reform Act. The NRCAT team will continue to keep you updated with the latest on the progress of the legislation. | 
