Join with Viatorians and other religious leaders as they oppose the use of prolonged solitary confinement in California state prisons.
The National Religious Campaign Against Torture has drafted an open letter to California Gov. Jerry Brown. They plan to deliver the first batch of signatures on July 19, but they will accept signatures through Aug. 1.![images[1]](https://www.viatorians.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/images1.jpg)
Already they have drawn the support of people from across the country, but they are urging others to click here and sign: “A Religious Call to End Prolonged Solitary Confinement in California Prisons.”
Prisoners themselves in the California state prison system brought the torture to light. On July 8, nearly 30,000 prisoners throughout California began a peaceful hunger strike to protest the inhumane conditions of long-term solitary confinement.
In California, nearly 12,000 imprisoned people are held in solitary confinement for 23 to 24 hours a day in small, windowless cells without sunlight, fresh air, meaningful human contact or constructive activity for many years, even decades.
The willingness of thousands of incarcerated people in California, to engage in such dramatic action, NRCAT officials say, demonstrates the inhumanity of the conditions of their confinement and compels our response.
On any given day, over 80,000 incarcerated people are held in solitary confinement in U.S. prisons.