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<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">From March 16</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">&ndash;</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">18, 2020 a national gathering of Catholic religious justice and peace leaders, organized by the U.S. Conference of Major Superiors of Men, met to develop collaborative responses and strategies to the emergency on the US&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">&ndash;&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Mexico border, as well as the crisis of immigrants and their families throughout the United States.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 11pt;">The meeting, originally scheduled to be held in Las Cruces, NM, was held online. We&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 11pt;">gathered with our hearts reaching out in prayers to God for our brothers and sisters affected by COVID-19&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 11pt;">and in solidarity with medical workers who are at the front line giving medical assistance to those who are&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 11pt;">sick.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">We affirmed the common humanity we share with migrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers, and expressed a desire to strengthen our solidarity with them, in order to build a stronger nonviolent movement within the Catholic Church to challenge inhumane and unjust immigration and border policies. And we looked at how racism, economic injustice, climate change, militarization and migration are all interconnected, just as we as a human family are connected to our migrant sisters and brothers. An intersectional lens helps us to see how these issues not only exacerbate each other, especially forced migration, but how getting to the root causes of forced migration requires us to address each of these issues together.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">We acknowledged the intimate connection between racism toward immigrants and forced migration. This is an old story, rooted in centuries of oppression against native peoples, but its impacts are as cruel as ever, based on policies that criminalize immigrants and militarize borders. During the current administration we have seen the devastating impact of cruel and inhumane policies that deny immigrants the right to asylum, detain and separate families, traumatize children, as well as effectively seal the border denying entry to most immigrants. The courts have often pushed back on federal policies leading to a huge increase in state level anti-immigrant legislation focused on enforcement.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/CMSM JPIC National Gathering Statement - Final.pdf">Read full statement here&gt;&gt;</a></p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(99, 99, 99); color: rgb(99, 99, 99); font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, monospace, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">In the face of a bitterly divided country that needs healing, President Trump today threw gasoline on the fire by releasing a stunningly harsh budget that would tear us further apart.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(99, 99, 99); color: rgb(99, 99, 99); font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, monospace, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">It would push tens of millions of less fortunate Americans into or deeper into poverty and cause widespread hardship even as it doubles down on tax cuts for the most well-off. It would take health coverage away from millions of people and cut aid to millions of families and individuals struggling to make ends meet. At the same time, the budget would make permanent the 2017 tax law&rsquo;s tax cuts for individuals, which are heavily weighted toward the top. As a result, the budget would further widen inequality and racial disparities.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(99, 99, 99); color: rgb(99, 99, 99); font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, monospace, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://www.cbpp.org/press/statements/greenstein-president-trumps-2021-budget-would-widen-countrys-divisions?utm_source=CBPP+Email+Updates&amp;utm_campaign=02a441483d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_02_10_08_10&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_ee3f6da374-02a441483d-50655441">Read full article here&gt;&gt;</a></p>

<p style="font-size: 16px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 23px; caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;">MIAMI | In a little-publicized&nbsp;<a href="https://bit.ly/37xnioX" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-color: rgb(14, 75, 120); box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(14, 75, 120); cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">notice posted in theFederal Register Nov. 4</a>, the Department of Homeland Security announced that all beneficiaries of TPS &mdash; Temporary Protected Status &mdash; &ldquo;will retain their TPS&rdquo; through Jan. 4, 2021.</p>
<p style="font-size: 16px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 23px; caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;">That&rsquo;s great news for immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Nepal and Sudan who were facing deportation when the Trump administration decided to end their temporary permission to work and live legally in the U.S.</p>
<p style="font-size: 16px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 23px; caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;">&ldquo;Termination is being held in abeyance by a judge&rdquo; pending the resolution of three lawsuits against TPS termination, said Randolph McGrorty, executive director of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cclsmiami.org/" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-color: rgb(14, 75, 120); box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(14, 75, 120); cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">Catholic Legal Services of the Archdiocese of Miami</a>.</p>
<p style="font-size: 16px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 23px; caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;">The posting in the Federal Register noted that DHS was taking this action &ldquo;to ensure its continued compliance with the preliminary injunction orders&rdquo; of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The courts are considering three different lawsuits: Ramos, et al. v. Nielsen, et al.; Saget, et al., v. Trump, et al.; and Bhattarai v. Nielsen.</p>
<p style="font-size: 16px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 23px; caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;">The best news for TPS beneficiaries is that this is an automatic extension. They don&rsquo;t need to do anything to retain their status.</p>
<p style="font-size: 16px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 23px; caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;">&ldquo;They don&rsquo;t need to file anything, neither for TPS extension nor employment authorization. It&rsquo;s all automatic,&rdquo; McGrorty said.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="font-size: 16px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 23px; caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;">He stressed that employers cannot require any additional documentation. Immigrants need only show them the notice from the Federal Register and their expired employment authorization.</p>
<p style="font-size: 16px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 23px; caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, serif;">TPS would have expired Jan. 2, 2020 for beneficiaries from Haiti, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Sudan; on Jan. 5, 2020 for those from Honduras; and March 24, 2020 for those from Nepal.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.miamiarch.org/CatholicDiocese.php?op=Article_miami-tps-extended-for-everyone-november-2019">Read article here&gt;&gt;</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Fr. Kammer S.J., Ms. Mary Baudouin, and Fr. Tom Greene S.J. were the UCS Province Representatives at this address.&nbsp;<a href="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/Address to Jesuit Justice 50th-110719-fran.pdf">Read full address here&gt;&gt;</a></p>
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<p><a href="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/Address to Jesuit Justice 50th-110719-fran.pdf"><img alt="" src="/jsri/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/images/photo_Address%20to%20Jesuit%20Justice%2050th-110719-fran_0.jpg" /></a></p>

<p><span><i>The Privilege of Plenty: Educational Inequity in Mississippi</i> analyzes the connections between economic and social factors, educational performance, and educational attainment in Mississippi. It is divided into four periods of life: birth to age four, elementary and secondary education, post-secondary education, and the long-term impacts of educational attainment. </span><span><b>This report shows that poverty in Mississippi is the greatest detriment to educational performance. This hinders educational attainment and economic security. Moreover, increasing adult educational attainment improves the overall standard of living. Furthermore, this report also shows that communities of color suffer from a level of poverty that harms educational performance and produces lower adult educational attainment rates. This in turn creates more poverty for the next generation of children starting their own educational journey.</b></span><span> It concludes that improving adult education attainment requires providing the necessary resources to educate children and alleviate the effects of poverty upon them.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><a href="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/The%20Privilege%20of%20Plenty-%20Educational%20Inequity%20in%20Mississippi.pdf">Full report here&gt;&gt;</a></p>
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<h2>
<strong style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-size: 12px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Study: Loyola University New Orleans Jesuit Social Research Institute Issues 2018&nbsp;<em>JustSouth Index</em></strong></h2>
<p><strong><em>Gulf South states rank below average on measures of social justice for third year in a row; report spotlights three challenging issues facing the Gulf South &ndash; poverty, racial disparity and immigrant exclusion. LOUISIANA RANKS LAST.&nbsp;</em></strong></p>
<p><strong>(New Orleans, LA, -- November 21, 2019)&nbsp;</strong>The 2018&nbsp;<em>JustSouth Index</em>&nbsp;report released today by Loyola University New Orleans&rsquo; Jesuit Social Research Institute (JSRI) reveals that states in the Gulf South of the U.S. all fall near the bottom of the Index on measures of social justice. The&nbsp;<em>JustSouth Index</em>&nbsp;measures and compares states&rsquo; performance on nine quantitative indicators that fall under three dimensions: poverty, racial disparity and immigrant exclusion.&nbsp;&nbsp;All 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, were scored. The five Gulf South states ranked as follows:</p>
<ul>
<li>
Florida #41</li>
<li>
Texas # 46</li>
<li>
Alabama #49</li>
<li>
Mississippi #50</li>
<li>
Louisiana #51</li>
</ul>
<p>Hawaii fares best overall, with a No. 1 ranking.</p>
<p><strong>Key Findings for Louisiana:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
The state&rsquo;s expansion of Medicaid in 2016 led to a dramatic decline in the number of uninsured.&nbsp;&nbsp;Louisiana went from 45^thto 33^rd&nbsp;in the state rankings in this particular indicator. Specifically, in our&nbsp;<em>Index</em>&nbsp;we find that the percentage of low income people without health insurance in 2017 was 19.8%.&nbsp;&nbsp;The previous year it was 26.4%.&nbsp;&nbsp;This represents the greatest decline in the percentage of uninsured among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li>
<li>
Despite great improvement in the uninsured, Louisiana was, for the third year in a row, at the bottom of the state rankings in overall score.</li>
<li>
Louisiana had the second lowest average income among low income residents (bottom quartile or 25%): $11,016.&nbsp;&nbsp;The state at the bottom was Mississippi with $10,821.&nbsp;&nbsp;The state at the top was Maryland with $22,234.&nbsp;&nbsp;The national average was $16,293.</li>
<li>
Louisiana had the second largest white-minority wage gap in the country, 18.4%.</li>
<li>
Louisiana had the second largest gap in health insurance coverage between native and foreign-born residents, 26.6%.&nbsp;&nbsp;The national average was 13.9%.</li>
<li>
Louisiana had the sixth highest percentage of segregated schools in the U.S., 21.8%.</li>
</ul>
<p>&ldquo;The&nbsp;<em>JustSouth Index</em>&nbsp;serves as a measure of social justice examining key dimensions that must be addressed to improve lives and enhance human dignity<em>,&rdquo;&nbsp;</em>said&nbsp;<a href="https://jsri.loyno.edu/bio/fr-fred-kammer-sj-j-d">the Rev. Fred Kammer</a>, S.J., J.D., executive director of Loyola&rsquo;s Jesuit Social Research Institute. &ldquo;Our purposes, rooted deeply in the Scriptures and Catholic social justice traditions, are to educate the people of this region and to point out how we together can make the kind of changes that promote far greater social justice, equity, and inclusion for all of us who live here.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Key Recommendations for Louisiana:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
Raise the minimum wage significantly and rescind the 2012 preemption law banning municipal wages and sick leave policies.</li>
<li>
Investigate discriminatory labor practices</li>
<li>
Make available more resources to educate all residents (native or foreign born) about the various benefits available to them via the ACA, including expanded Medicaid.</li>
<li>
Increase state enforcement of school desegregation and address unequal funding allocation to schools.</li>
</ul>
<p>&ldquo;While Louisiana currently ranks low in the&nbsp;<em>Index</em>, it is well within the power and the duty of leaders and citizens in the state to change the current reality,&rdquo; says JSRI.&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Improving a state&rsquo;s ranking on the indicators, dimension indices, and the overall&nbsp;<em>JustSouth Index</em>&nbsp;will require that policymakers, advocates, philanthropists, business, labor and community leaders, and citizens take action to work for policy and program changes that will more justly distribute opportunity and resources to all in society. In turn, they will serve the common good and create greater solidarity among the residents of Louisiana.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The&nbsp;<em>JustSouth Index,</em>&nbsp;made possible by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, establishes a measure of social justice and provides policymakers, businesses, nonprofits, and residents with a better understanding of how the people of the Gulf South are faring with regard to basic human rights and needs.&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/JSRI_JustSouth%20Index%202018.pdf"><strong>The full report is linked here.</strong></a></p>
<h4>
<strong><a href="https://jsri.loyno.edu/indicators-map"><span><span class="intro"><span>Interactive Map 2018</span></span></span></a></strong></h4>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 10pt; font-family: GothamMedium; font-style: italic;">Rich School, Poor School: Education [In]Equity in Louisiana&nbsp;</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 10pt; font-family: GothamMedium;">analyzes the connections between economic and social factors, educational performance, and educational attainment in Louisiana. It is divided into four periods of life: birth to age four, elementary and secondary education, post- secondary education, and the long-term impacts of educational attainment.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/Rich%20School,%20Poor%20School-%20Education%20%5BIn%5DEquity%20in%20Louisiana.pdf"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 10pt; font-family: GothamMedium;">Read full report here&gt;&gt;</span></a></p>

<p><img alt="" src="/jsri/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/images/Screen%20Shot%202019-08-29%20at%202.13.45%20PM.png" style="height: 172px; width: 500px;" /></p>
<h2>
<a href="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/Labor Day Statement-2019-Dewane-cst.pdf">Read the full statement in English here.</a></h2>
<p><img alt="" src="/jsri/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/images/Screen%20Shot%202019-08-29%20at%202.13.54%20PM.png" style="height: 192px; width: 500px;" /></p>
<h2>
<a href="https://jsri.loyno.edu/sites/loyno.edu.jsri/files/Labor Day Statement-2019-spanish-Dewane-cst.pdf">Read the full statement in Spanish here.</a></h2>

<p class="null"><span>The violent attack yesterday in El Paso in which 22 people lost their lives and more than 24 others were injured evokes two starkly divergent views of El Paso, the first held by most of its residents and those who know it well, and the second championed by extremist politicians, media sources, and hate groups. The latter describe El Paso and other border communities as dangerous and crime-ridden places, victimized by &ldquo;invaders&rdquo; from undesirable countries.</span></p>
<p><span>Just five days ago,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/455489-orourke-calls-el-paso-the-ellis-island-of-today">Beto O&rsquo;Rourke</a><span>&nbsp;outlined a different vision of this community, writing in&nbsp;</span><em>The Hill</em><span>&nbsp;that that El Paso might (instead) be considered the nation&rsquo;s future Ellis Island; that is, a symbol of hope for the world.&nbsp;The Ellis Island language may have come from a 2012 gathering in El Paso of border residents (most from El Paso) from different sectors &ndash; public officials, law enforcement, faith communities, business people, the press, and others &ndash; who were offended by how their communities had been characterized in the national immigration debate and wanted to articulate a richer, more truthful narrative of their communities. &ldquo;If nothing else,&rdquo; they later wrote presciently, &ldquo;we could all agree on this point. There is a prevailing narrative about the US border and it is false and it is dangerous to border communities.&rdquo;</span></p>
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<a href="https://cmsny.org/statement-shooting-in-el-paso/?fbclid=IwAR0G3_SPk6z-5QUIgd0g9fTnXr91_2qATGgkp8aUpd9lYjYkQinuX5r0Vc8">Read full statement here&gt;&gt;</a></div>

<p><strong>GROUNDBREAKING NEW REPORT EXPOSES IMPACT OF&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p><strong>SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IN LOUISIANA STATE PRISONS</strong></p>
<p><strong>Full report here:&nbsp;<a href="https://solitarywatch.org/louisianaonlockdown/">https://solitarywatch.org/louisianaonlockdown/</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Largest Ever Survey of People Living in Solitary Reveals Mental Deterioration&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p><strong>and Widespread Abuse in Isolation Units</strong></p>
<p><strong>State&rsquo;s Rate of Solitary Confinement Use Is 4X the National Average</strong></p>
<p><strong>Albert Woodfox and Other Solitary Survivors Join Advocates and Authors for&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p><strong>Report Launch, and to Discuss Path Toward Change in Louisiana</strong></p>
<p><strong>NEW ORLEANS, June 25, 2019</strong>&mdash;A morning press event on the campus of Loyola University marks the release of a&nbsp;<a href="http://solitarywatch.org/louisianaonlockdown">new report</a>that includes harrowing first-hand accounts of prolonged isolation in Louisiana&rsquo;s state prisons, where at last count the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections (LADOC) held at least 17 percent of people in some form of solitary confinement&mdash;some 3,000 individuals in all. This percentage was double the next highest state&rsquo;s, and nearly four times the U.S. national average, making Louisiana an outlier state in an outlier country when it comes to the use of solitary confinement.</p>
<p>The report,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.solitarywatch.org/louisianaonlockdown"><strong><em>LOUISIANA ON LOCKDOWN</em></strong></a><strong><em>: </em></strong><em>A Report on the Use of Solitary Confinement in Louisiana State Prisons, With Testimony From the People Who Live It,&nbsp;</em>is published by&nbsp;<strong>Solitary Watch, the ACLU of Louisiana, and the Jesuit Social Research Institute at Loyola University New Orleans.&nbsp;</strong>More than two years in the making, it is based primarily on a survey completed by 709 people in solitary in all nine of Louisiana&rsquo;s prisons, the largest ever survey of people living in solitary.</p>
<p>&ldquo;For decades, solitary confinement occupied one of the darkest corners of the U.S. criminal justice system,&rdquo; said&nbsp;<strong>Jean Casella, Co-Director of Solitary Watch</strong>, a national watchdog group that investigates and reports on the subject. &ldquo;Even now, most of what we know is based on data provided by corrections departments. That information is incomplete without the testimony of people who know what it means to live for months, years, or even decades in a 6-by-9-foot cell, cut off from nearly all human contact.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p>The responses to the survey paint a grim picture of long stretches of time spent in small cells that are often windowless, filthy, and/or subject to extreme temperatures, where individuals are denied basic human needs such as adequate food and daily exercise, and subject to many forms of abuse as well as to unending idleness and loneliness, resulting in physical and mental deterioration.</p>
<p>&ldquo;These cells drive men mad,&rdquo; wrote Carl, who reported spending years in solitary. &ldquo;I have personally witnessed one man take his life, another tried to by running the length of the tier and smashing his head into the front bars, sadly for him he still lives, if you can really call it that&hellip;&rdquo; Those who survive the isolation, Carl wrote, are nonetheless destroyed by it: &ldquo;Too much hurt, too much pain, too much confusion, we are lost, lost from God, lost from reality.&rdquo;</p>
<p>These responses are consistent with a growing body of evidence showing the devastating and often permanent psychological and physical harm caused by prolonged isolation. In 2015, the United Nations called on countries to prohibit the use of solitary beyond 15 days, declaring it cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment that in many cases rises to the level of torture.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Among the report&rsquo;s other disturbing findings are the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>
Most survey respondents believed their mental health had worsened during their time in solitary, describing symptoms including anxiety, depression, paranoia, visual and auditory hallucinations, and difficulty interacting with others. Some expressed fear that they would &ldquo;never be the same again.&rdquo;</li>
<li>
More than 77 percent of people who responded to the survey said they had been held in solitary confinement for more than a year, and 30 percent said they had been there for more than five years. Nationally, less than 20 percent of individuals in solitary have been there for more than a year.&nbsp;</li>
<li>
A majority said they were in solitary for breaking prison rules, including minor, nonviolent infractions, and many said they were there indefinitely, with no clear way of earning their way out through good behavior.&nbsp;</li>
<li>
Approximately 80 percent of respondents reported that physical assaults at the hands of staff, as well as threats, intimidation, and racial intimidation, were common or very common in solitary confinement.&nbsp;</li>
<li>
Most respondents said they had personally been subjected to additional punishments in solitary, including pepper spray or physical restraints, and a few described being punished by being placed in bare &ldquo;strip&rdquo; cells with only a paper gown to wear.</li>
<li>
Over 25 percent of respondents reported engaging in self-harm, including cutting and head-banging, while in solitary, and most had witnessed it. But only 4 percent of those who had harmed themselves said they received counseling, while more than 26 percent said they were punished for it.</li>
<li>
Nearly everyone who responded to the survey described serious neglect in the areas of medical and mental health care, which they said led to suffering, blindness, and even death.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p>&ldquo;Solitary confinement raises significant constitutional concerns while undermining public safety and inflicting egregious harm on individuals and communities,&rdquo; said&nbsp;<strong>Congressman Cedric Richmond</strong>, a longtime advocate for ending the practice of solitary confinement. &ldquo;This report is a stark reminder of the devastating impact solitary confinement has on human beings and of the urgent need for reform. Americans have waited long enough for a prison system that reflects their values and respects human dignity. The time to end solitary confinement is now.&quot;</p>
<p>&quot;These powerful first-hand accounts describe in terrible detail how solitary confinement inflicts devastating physical and mental harm on those who experience it,&quot; said&nbsp;<strong>Katie Schwartzmann, Legal Director of the ACLU of Louisiana.</strong>&quot;Louisiana&#39;s overuse of solitary confinement is well-documented, but by recounting these stories, this report has given people living in solitary confinement a way to share their experiences beyond the prison walls. We are hopeful that LADOC is listening.&quot;</p>
<p><em>LOUISIANA ON LOCKDOWN</em>provides a list of detailed recommendations that include immediate limits on the use of solitary that would drastically reduce the number of people isolated in Louisiana&rsquo;s prisons:</p>
<ul>
<li>
An end to the use of solitary as a response to all but the most serious and violent prison offenses.</li>
<li>
An immediate six-month limit on the length of all stays in isolation and ultimately for LADOC to comply with international standards, which limit detention in solitary confinement to 15 days maximum.</li>
<li>
Creation of a transition program out of solitary.</li>
<li>
Closure of lockdown units at two prisons.</li>
<li>
A complete ban on solitary for minors under 18, people with mental illness, and other vulnerable individuals.&nbsp;</li>
<li>
Creation of a task force that includes community members, as well as experts and prison officials, to bring Louisiana into compliance with UN standards.</li>
</ul>
<p>Recognizing that the practice has adverse effects not only on incarcerated people, but on effective prison management and public safety, LADOC has recently shown a new openness to change. For several years, the department has been working in partnership with the Vera Institute for Justice&rsquo;s Safe Alternatives to Segregation Initiative, which issued its own report last month. LADOC has implemented initial reforms recommended by the Vera Institute, and committed to further changes in the future.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong><em>LOUISIANA ON LOCKDOWN&nbsp;</em></strong>is intended to add additional insights and an even greater sense of urgency to the push for change, said&nbsp;<strong>Dr. Sue Weishar, Policy and Research Fellow for Loyola&rsquo;s Jesuit Social Research Institute,&nbsp;</strong>&ldquo;It is our hope that this report ensures that the voices of some of the most forgotten members of our community are finally heard, and that the suffering they so poignantly describe is brought to an end. Louisiana&rsquo;s correctional leaders must move forward with a renewed commitment to safeguarding the human rights and respecting the inherent human dignity of every person in their care and control.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In addition to the report authors, the press event features&nbsp;<strong>Dr. Ashley Howard, Assistant Professor of History at Loyola,</strong>whose students inputted survey responses and who were &ldquo;devastated and transformed&rdquo; by what they learned.&nbsp;<strong>Rev. Dan Krutz, Executive Director of the Louisiana Interchurch Conference</strong>, whose members have issued a powerful statement calling for an end to prolonged solitary confinement in Louisiana prisons and jails, will also speak at the event.</p>
<p><strong>Vanessa Spinazola, Executive Director of the Justice and Accountability Center of Louisiana and a founding member of the Louisiana Stop Solitary Coalition,</strong>stresses that the kind of profound changes needed can never come entirely from within the corrections department. She notes that a grassroots movement that has come together to work toward an end to solitary confinement in Louisiana.</p>
<p>Among the leaders of this movement is&nbsp;<strong>Albert Woodfox, also a founding member of the Stop Solitary Coalition, who spent more than 43 years in solitary confinement in Louisiana&nbsp;</strong>and became known as one of the &ldquo;Angola 3&rdquo; before he was finally freed in 2016. Woodfox&rsquo;s recently published memoir&nbsp;<em>Solitary</em>has been called &ldquo;a crushing account of the inhumanity of solitary confinement&rdquo; (<em>Publishers Weekly</em>).&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I spent more than four decades in solitary and just celebrated my third anniversary of freedom,&rdquo; Woodfox said. &ldquo;But one thing that the three of us made a vow to do is that when we went free, we would be the voice and face of the men and women and children that are still hidden behind the walls of the prisons, and in the solitary confinement cells of this state and this country. Part of doing that is working with the Louisiana Stop Solitary Coalition. Solitary confinement is the most cruel form of torture there is, and we must abolish it.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Many others with direct experience of solitary confinement will be present at the event, most of them members of VOTE (Voice of the Experienced), a New Orleans-based grassroots group &ldquo;dedicated to restoring the full human and civil rights of those most impacted by the criminal (in)justice system.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Kiana Calloway, a solitary survivor and the Housing Justice Campaign Organizer for VOTE</strong>, will describe his own experiences in isolation. He will be joined by&nbsp;<strong>Rhonda Oliver, Executive Director of Women Determined</strong>, which secures housing and other support for women returning from prison, to read narratives from the surveys of people in solitary. &nbsp;</p>
<p>The final narrative they plan to read captures the devastation caused by solitary confinement, not only for the individuals who endure it, but also for the corrections system and for the families and communities to which many will one day return.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Have you ever seen how a dog becomes after being locked up for a while?&rdquo; Marvin wrote. &ldquo;When you let that dog out on society what usually happens? Trouble, right? Well being in segregation for long periods of time have the same effect on a man. When let out, anxiety is high, fear is through the roof. This leads to antisocial behavior, substance abuse to self medicate the new mental anguish acquired from being caged like an animal. This in turn leads to destructive sometimes criminal behavior, which in turn can lead back to the same cage the man just left. Isn&#39;t this the definition of insanity? If so then it begs to differ that the system is INSANE! This produces men of insane minds, not productive citizens, who have been rehabilitated for society. I pray to God I will do good after being segregated for so long.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>The full report is online at:&nbsp;</strong><strong><a href="http://www.solitarywatch.org/louisianaonlockdown">solitarywatch.org/louisianaonlockdown</a></strong></p>
<p align="center">&bull;</p>
<p>Launch Event for&nbsp;<em>LOUISIANA ON LOCKDOWN: A Report on the Use of Solitary Confinement in Louisiana State Prisons, With Testimony From the People Who Live It&nbsp;</em></p>
<p><strong>Tuesday, June 25, 10:00&mdash;11:30 am, Loyola University New Orleans, Greenville Hall, 7214 St Charles Ave.&nbsp;</strong>(corner of Broadway and Pine Streets, set back from street). Parking available on Pine Street.</p>
<p><strong>LIST OF EVENT PARTICIPANTS</strong></p>
<p align="center">&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li>
Albert Woodfox, survivor of 43 years in solitary confinement in Louisiana state prisons; author of the new memoir&nbsp;<em>Solitary;</em>and founding member, Louisiana Stop Solitary Coalition</li>
<li>
Jean Casella, Co-Director, Solitary Watch</li>
<li>
Katie Schwartzmann, Legal Director, American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana</li>
<li>
Dr. Sue Weishar,&nbsp;Policy and Research Fellow, Jesuit Social Research Institute/Loyola University New Orleans&nbsp;</li>
<li>
Vanessa Spinazola, Executive Director, Justice and Accountability Center of Louisiana, and founding member, Louisiana Stop Solitary Coalition</li>
<li>
Rhonda Oliver, Executive Director, Women Determined</li>
<li>
Kiana Calloway, solitary survivor; Housing Justice Campaign Organizer, Voice of the Experienced (VOTE); and Program Manager, Roots of Renewal&nbsp;</li>
<li>
Rev. Dan Krutz, Executive Director, Louisiana Interchurch Conference</li>
<li>
Dr. Ashley Howard,&nbsp;Assistant Professor, History, Loyola University New Orleans</li>
<li>
Dr. Al&iacute; Bustamante, economist and former Research Fellow, Jesuit Social Research Institute/Loyola University New Orleans&nbsp;</li>
<li>
Rev. Fred Kammer, SJ, Executive Director Jesuit Social Research Institute/Loyola University New Orleans</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p align="center"><strong>For more information, contact Channing Grate,&nbsp;</strong><a href="mailto:channing@gpsimpact.com"><strong>channing@gpsimpact.com</strong></a><strong>, 401-286-7499,&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p align="center"><strong>or Jean Casella,&nbsp;</strong><a href="mailto:jcasella@solitarywatch.org"><strong>jcasella@solitarywatch.org</strong></a><strong>, 917-974-0529.</strong></p>
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