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As people of faith and religious leaders in California representing a diversity of religious and spiritual traditions throughout our state, we call on all elected and appointed state leaders to support the California Mandela Act on Solitary Confinement (AB 280).
Our various faith traditions hold in common a belief in the inherent dignity and worth of each human person. The complete isolation of people being held in California prisons, jails and detention centers in prolonged solitary confinement creates lasting harm while violating the basic religious values of redemption, compassion, and restorative justice. As people of faith and conscience, we stand in solidarity with the leadership of detained and formerly incarcerated individuals and their families who have worked tirelessly to end solitary confinement and have called upon us to join them in this sacred pursuit.
The California Mandela Act would end prolonged isolation beyond 15 days to reflect the UN human rights standards, and it provides a clear definition of what constitutes solitary confinement across facilities in California. The bill would also protect designated populations from ever being placed in solitary confinement including pregnant people, the elderly and those with certain disabilities. It is the first bill in the nation to also end the use of prolonged solitary confinement in private immigrant detention facilities.
Solitary confinement is torture. As moral leaders in our state, we call upon you to use the power of your office to end this destructive practice that violates basic principles of human rights and the inherent God-given human dignity bestowed on all.
We urge you to support the California Mandela Act on Solitary Confinement today.
Signed,
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BACKGROUND ON THE CALIFORNIA MANDELA ACT
The United Nations, leading medical and mental health experts, and other developed nations broadly recognize the use of prolonged solitary confinement as a form of torture. And yet in our nation, the practice is commonplace and largely unregulated. Individuals can be held in isolated conditions of confinement for months, years, and here in California, even decades. The torture of prolonged solitary confinement is predominantly inflicted on Black and Latinx Californians. Abolishing this practice is a necessary step toward racial justice.
In 2013, over 30,000 people organized inside California prisons to protest solitary confinement and communities of faith and religious leaders nationwide expressed their solidarity and support. Today, the California Mandela Act builds upon the decades of work done by detained individuals, activists and organizers to replace the tombs of solitary confinement with rehabilitative alternatives, restorative justice, and community.
In January 2023, Assemblymember Holden introduced the California Mandela Act AB 280, a bill that seeks comprehensive reform on the issue of solitary confinement in California jails, prisons and private detention facilities. The legislation is a reintroduction of AB 2632, which successfully passed the California Assembly and Senate in 2022, only to be vetoed by Governor Newsom despite broad calls including from the faith community for it to be signed into law. A powerful open letter by solitary survivors was sent to Governor Newsom last year, and the Governor has yet to meet with solitary survivors about AB 280 and its importance.
In his veto message, Governor Newsom recognized that the issue of solitary confinement was “ripe for reform,” and directed the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR) to issue updated regulations on the practice. The legislature and the people of California have made it clear that comprehensive reform on this issue needs to take place, including in jails and private detention facilities. That is why AB 280 presents the only way forward for our state.
California must join other states like New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Washington, Colorado, and North Dakota, in setting clear standards and limits on the use of solitary confinement. This begins by recognizing that solitary confinement is torture, and setting uniform and consistent limits on how solitary is used in all detention facilities.
The bill ends prolonged isolation beyond 15 days to reflect United Nations human rights standards, and it provides a clear definition of what constitutes solitary confinement across facilities in California. The bill would also protect designated populations from ever being placed in solitary confinement including pregnant people, the elderly and those with certain disabilities. The reintroduced version of the Mandela Act includes specific language that addresses concerns raised by opponents of the earlier legislation in 2022 and is designed to set minimum standards for all carceral facilities that should not conflict with prior regulations introduced by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
In February, the California Law Library published a groundbreaking study revealing that solitary confinement does not increase safety and outlining the financial savings involved with the elimination of restricted housing This effectively counters any criticism that ending solitary confinement would make prisons less safe or that California does not have adequate public funding to fully implement legislation ending prolonged solitary confinement.
Yes, I endorse Californians of Faith and Conscience Support the CA Mandela Act on Solitary Confinement.
#StopSolitary
#EndTorture
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