NRCAT Affirms the Sacred Value of Black Lives On June 5, 2020, the NRCAT staff issued this statement:



The staff of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture affirms the sacred value of Black lives and condemns the anti-Black violence we have collectively mourned in recent days with the murders of Mr. George Floyd and Ms. Breonna Taylor by the police. Our experience working to end torture in U.S. policy, practice and culture teaches us that such acts of state violence are not isolated incidents but rather expose a culture of violence against people of color. This same state violence also pervades U.S. prisons, jails, and detention centers, where on any given day tens of thousands of people, disproportionately adults and youth of color, are held in conditions of solitary confinement, a practice considered a form of torture by the United Nations, medical professionals and other developed countries. >> Read the full statement Contact your Governor Join NRCAT in calling on your Governor to take steps to ensure that incarcerated people and corrections staff are protected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our sisters and brothers behind bars who are incarcerated and those who work in facilities that house them, deserve protection, dignity and care. >> Write to Your Governor Today NRCAT calls on Governors: To take concrete steps to release the highest number of people possible from all jails and state prisons, beginning with the most vulnerable.

To ensure that all people who live and work in correctional facilities have access to adequate testing and personal protective equipment to help stop the spread of COVID in these spaces. This includes increased access to hygiene products.

To ensure correctional leaders do not respond punitively, potentially discouraging the sick from reporting their symptoms. This includes ensuring correctional leaders never use solitary confinement as a containment strategy for COVID-19. The Report The Hollywood film The Report, starring Adam Driver and Annette Bening, tells the story of U.S. Senate staffer Dan Jones leading an investigation into the CIA's torture program. As Jones uncovers the truth – that torture was not only brutal and immoral, but also ineffective – the CIA works to prevent his findings from ever being made public. Encourage your friends and members of your faith community to watch The Report. The movie is now available on Amazon Prime. >> Learn more