Save the Date! Take Action June 26: Say NO to Opening Thomson Prison as a Supermax

[Bob Palmer]

Another action you can take on the International Day in Support of Survivors of Torture....

Save the Date! Take Action June 26: Say NO to Opening Thomson Prison as a Supermax

Join the national call-in day organized by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture on June 26 to urge Attorney General Eric Holder to build on his recent statements about the harms of solitary confinement by ensuring the federal Bureau of Prisons makes no increase in isolated confinement.

At a time when the rest of the nation is waking up to the horrors of solitary confinement, the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is moving forward with plans to add newADX supermax prison beds to the federal prison system,the most extreme form of solitary confinement, along with new Special Management Unit (SMU) cells, where two people are held in 23-hour-a-day lockdown.

Late last year, Bureau of Prisons Director Charles Samuels answered questions at an oversight hearing about plans for activating the federal prison in Thomson, Illinois, as an Administrative Maximum (ADX) facility. Watch two brief video clips of testimony at these links:

http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4495573/charles-samuels-nov-6-2013
http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4495580/senator-durbin-nov-6-2013

Now is the time to take action to call for federal leadership to ensure the BOP does not activate the Thomson federal prison as a new supermax. Join the national call-in day on June 26, to urge Attorney General Eric Holder to ensure the BOP does not add new supermax beds.

Find out more about the call-in day at http://www.nrcat.org/torture-in-us-prisons/federal/call-in-day-on-thomson

This link to the Solitary Watch provides more background on the history of this facility in northwestern Illinois: http://solitarywatch.com/tag/thomson-correctional-center/