[Immigrantrightsnynj] Renew Efforts to End Abuse of Solitary Confinement

[Immigrant Rights NYNJ]

Press Advisory                                                                                                                                                  March 9, 2012

Contact:
●             Adem Carroll Metro NY Religious Campaign Against Torture (MNRCAT) 646 251 0402
●             Monami Maulik, (DRUM), 347.385.9113 or Suzy Spears: suzy12343 at yahoo.com
Brooklyn and City Groups Mark Anniversary: Renew Efforts to End Abuse of Solitary Confinement
New York, NY - Local community groups will join civil liberties advocates and a diverse group of concerned community members for a press conference and rally in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC). As a diverse group of lawyers, religious leaders, family members of detainees, professionals and policymakers gather to mark the 10th anniversary of famous series of Brooklyn protests while Muslim men were held at the MDC for long periods in isolation without due process, in response to the 9/11 terror attack. But we don’t merely look back on Brooklyn’s proud history of social justice activism. We gather today before one local prison in an enormous network of federal and state prisons that hold 80,000 men and women held each day in isolation cells. This terrible fact is a human rights crisis. We raise our voices to call for a more humane system.
When:                  Sunday, March 11 at 1 pm
Where:                 Metropolitan Detention Center: 29th St & Third Avenue, Sunset Park Brooklyn
Who:                     Community Leaders, Detainee Families and others
Legal Community Representatives
Civil Rights and Peace advocates
Interfaith, Muslim and Other Community groups

This human rights event is followed by a walk to Freddy’s Backyard (18th Street and Fifth Avenue) for a teach-in, film screening and refreshments. For more info about speakers and program: http://nycivicpartnership.wordpress.com/10th-year-mdc-reconnection-911-abuse-continues/
"I am proud that for more than 20 consecutive weeks, in 2001 and 2002, a coalition of New Yorkers rallied and spoke out in support of the civil liberties of Muslims, focusing on Muslims detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Today, 10 years later, New Yorkers need to rally and speak out again in support of the civil liberties of Muslims, focusing on the NYPD surveillance of Muslims.”
                                                                2001 Rally Founder and former ACLU Executive Director Norman Siegel

“Today we link our strong tradition of activism past and present. March 11 is also the seventh anniversary of the terrible terror attack in Spain.  However, unlike the US government, the Spanish have not used that tragedy to drastically reduce civil liberties or to target Muslim immigrants. We must remember our mistakes and not repeat them.”                                                                                                  --Dr. Charlotte Phillips, Chair, Brooklyn for Peace

“I was held in isolation for 90 days in Guantanamo when my colleagues wrongly suspected me of collaborating with the detainees. Though I was exonerated, the brutal effects of detention have been harder to shake. And many prisoners are held in this way for far longer than 90 days.”                       -Chaplain Yusuf Yee

The over 80,000 men and women held in isolation every day are very often from vulnerable groups; transgender people as well as alleged gang members, Muslim Americans as well as the mentally ill. The experience of isolation is severely traumatizing and disruptive; in addition, these conditions lead to other forms of abuse, including lack of essential health services. The increasing abuse of solitary confinement is a shameful secret that we choose not to recognize. There are currently many linked concerns about rising police powers and abuse of human rights. We must take action--together.

Endorsed by (list in formation as of 03/08/2012): Brooklyn For Peace (BFP); Bill of Rights Defense Committee; Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR); Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR NY); Desis Rising Up & Moving (DRUM); Ethical Culture Society of Brooklyn; Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA);  Metro New York Campaign Against Torture; The Sikh Coalition; National Lawyers Guild NY; Rabbis for Human Rights -North America (RHR-NA);  Witness Against Torture; Veterans for Peace Chapter 34; Free Fahd & Justice for Newburgh 4, Muslim Peace Coalition; AMAL; Weaving the Fabric of Diversity at First Unitarian Congregational Society Bklyn; NYC World Can’t Wait; Mr. Norman Siegel; Ms Emira Habiby Browne; Sr. Debbie Almontaser
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