Media Contact: Samantha Kupferman, West End Strategy Team
Samantha@westendstrategy.com; Office: 212-498-9300; Cell: 202-215-9260
NEW YORK – California Governor Jerry Brown this week signed into law Senate Bill 1143, which will drastically restrict and reduce the use of solitary confinement for youths in the state’s juvenile justice system. This law provides strict guidelines for when and how solitary confinement for juveniles can be used. It calls for isolation to be used only as a last resort, for no more than four hours, and only if there is a threat to the safety of the young person or others around him or her.
In response to this news, Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster, director of programs at T’ruah: the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, which is committed to ending mass incarceration and prolonged solitary confinement, issued the following statement:
“This landmark legislation will affect thousands of young people in California and help to clear the way for teshuvah, redemption, rather than imposing harsh punishments that lead only to a continued cycle of violence, poverty and hopelessness. With the signing of SB1143 into law, California has signaled its commitment to humane treatment for incarcerated juveniles and has become a national leader in ending prolonged solitary confinement.
“Solitary confinement constitutes torture, both according to Jewish tradition and according to international human rights experts. The Torah tells us, ‘It is not good for a person to be alone,’ (Genesis 2:18), insisting that human beings are social creatures. Violating the basic need for human contact constitutes a denial of human dignity, especially for our youth, whose brains and characters are still in formation.
“We are proud of the T’ruah rabbis and supporters in California who brought their moral voices to asking their legislators to support SB1143. Together with our interfaith partners in this campaign, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture and Bend the Arc, T’ruah applauds this legislative victory and calls on other states to follow California’s moral leadership.
“On any given day, America’s prisons and jails hold more than 80,000 people in isolation, including women, juveniles, and the mentally ill. This is why T’ruah is engaging our network of 1,800 rabbis and cantors across North America, along with their communities, in ending solitary confinement as a primary component of our overall commitment to racial justice and ending mass incarceration in the United States.”
The legislation was authored by Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and supported by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and the Chief Probation Officers of California (CPOC), as well as advocates for youth, human rights leaders, and the faith community.
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T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights brings together rabbis and cantors from all streams of Judaism, together with all members of the Jewish community, to act on the Jewish imperative to respect and advance the human rights of all people. Grounded in Torah and our Jewish historical experience and guided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we call upon Jews to assert Jewish values by raising our voices and taking concrete steps to protect and expand human rights in North America, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories. More info at @truahrabbis, Facebook and truah.org.