The 2023 General Synod of the United Church of Christ will consider 17 resolutions and several bylaw changes when it meets June 30-July 4 in Indianapolis. Rev. Dr. Kelle Brown will be present to participate. Full texts of each of the proposed resolutions are available at the General Synod website.
Over a decade ago, the United Nations special rapporteur on torture aligned solitary confinement with torture and said that indefinite or prolonged isolation beyond 15 days should be prohibited due to the mental damage caused after only a few days of isolation. Yet, it remains a widespread practice in the United States with estimations that, at any given time, there are over 75,000 people in solitary confinement in the country’s prisons.
Further, solitary confinement is used far more on certain populations, including people of color, transgender and gender non-conforming people, people with mental health needs and young people. Studies have detailed the lasting negative impact solitary confinement creates, including a “prison to poverty pipeline” that the proposed resolution describes as lowering the earning potential of formerly incarcerated people and causing significant impact on families.
While previous General Synods have passed a Pronouncement on Human Rights resolution that includes denouncing torture and a resolution to dismantle discriminatory systems of mass incarceration in the United States, the newly proposed resolution explicitly opposes solitary confinement as a form of torture. The proposed resolution points toward replacing a widespread practice that has been defined as torture with “humane, rehabilitative alternatives rooted in community and racial justice.”
“No one, no matter what they’ve done, deserves to be tortured,” said the Rev. David Lindsey, one of the resolution’s sponsors and executive director of Interfaith Action for Human Rights. “While the law must be upheld, and people need to be held accountable for the crimes they commit, we as Christians who descend from the likes of Peter and Paul are, by definition, believers in forgiveness and second chances. We know that all people are created in the image of God and therefore deserve to be treated with decency and respect. Let us create a criminal justice system that reflects the inherent dignity and worth endowed upon us by our Creator, and end solitary confinement.”