Solitary Confinement Discussion

Join us for dinner and discussion on the topic, Solitary Confinement: The Immoral Treatment of Prisoners in America’s Prison System, with the Rev. Ron Stief and Shandre Delaney. The event is being sponsored by the ELPC Mission Board and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.

The United States accounts for 5% of the world’s population, 25% of the world’s incarcerated, and holds more prisoners in solitary confinement than any other democratic nation. There are over 40 state-run, super-max prisons, and one federal super-max prison in the Unite States—each of which holds inmates exclusively in solitary confinement. In the early 1980s, there was one. Some argue that the use of solitary confinement is a necessary management tool used for only the “worst of the worst.” However, the reality is most prisoners end up in solitary confinement, or are unable to move out of isolation due to non-violent rule infractions and as a result of mental illness.

• The Rev. Ron Stief, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, is the executive director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, an interfaith organization of more than 325 religious organizations committed to ending U.S.–sponsored torture. Rev. Stief is a national leader and faith strategist on ending torture. He speaks widely at college campuses, interfaith events, and coalition actions to end torture.
• Shandre Delaney—the mother of Carrington Keys, one of the Dallas 6—is coordinator of the Justice for the Dallas 6 Support Campaign, which has grown into a national and international effort. She has been an advocate for human and civil rights for 15 years, working with the Human Rights Coalition and Abolitionist Law Center in Pittsburgh and Global Women’s Strike in Philadelphia, which are very involved in the Dallas 6 support campaign.