Solitary Confinement

There is a deep and abiding power in saying to those who have died as a result of solitary confinement. We cannot bring back those we lost, but we can sanctify their memories by continuing to fight for a city that is dedicated to human rights for all.

A firsthand account from Rabbi Jill Jacobs, T'ruah Executive Director, of the joint T'ruah-HIAS border delegation, November 2019.

In 2014, T’ruah submitted a shadow report to the UN arguing that America’s use of solitary confinement violates the Convention Against Torture. This report weaves together Jewish text with human rights law.

In this article, Rabbi Jonathan Crane examines Jewish texts about incarceration and claims made by activists seeking to end solitary confinement.

"May the Holy Blessed One be filled with mercy for them, strengthening them to withstand this act of torture and keeping them from all harm."

"In this reorientation from one way of doing things to a better one lies the relevance, power, and teaching for our broken criminal justice system today."

Parshat Nitzavim, the first of this week’s double parshah, speaks powerfully to our fundamental human need for connection to each other and to Gd — and therefore to the isolation that is an anathema to it. The covenant of Torah that began with the distant and dramatic display of Gd’s power at Mount Sinai is...

In this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Vayeshev, Joseph is cast into a Biblical version of solitary confinement. After boasting of his future successes and power over his siblings, the brothers plot to kill Joseph before deciding to throw him into a pit. Soon after, they remove him from the pit and sell him into servitude....