Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Austria
Jesus in Jail
This statue by Stefano Giustini of Jesus in prison is located in a monastery near Salzburg, Austria. Art has often been used to tell the stories of prisoners, says the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.
The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is pleased to announce a special opportunity for students to participate in the movement to end torture in U.S. prisons through a Call for Art entitled, “Life in a Box - Solitary Confinement: Torture in Your Backyard.”
This is a unique opportunity for students from university and seminary campuses to engage issues of torture, specifically the damaging impact of prolonged solitary confinement in U.S. prisons. NRCAT’s Call for Art will create an opportunity for students to learn about solitary confinement, and expose the grim reality of the issue through art and spiritual reflection, whether visual or written. NRCAT is reaching out to students through Campus Ministers, and University and Seminary faculty. We need your help to promote this opportunity to students on your campus.
Though hidden from the public eye, at least 80,000 people are held in long-term solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and detention centers on any given day. Some call it “the box”, “the hole”, “the bing”, isolation, torture. Regardless of the title, it involves being locked in a cement cell alone 23-24 hours a day, seven days a week. Some are kept in these conditions for months, years, or even decades. The impact on the mentally ill and youth is especially damaging.
Art can tell stories, expose realities and open imaginations to new possibilities. NRCAT is accepting both visual and written art submissions for our Call for Art. The artwork will be used to honor the upcoming 65th anniversary of the adoption and proclamation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights Day (December 10th). The Life in a Box - Solitary Confinement: Torture in Your Backyard Call for Art will end on October 21, 2013, with honorees announced on October 24, 2013. More information about the Call for Art, as well additional ways to spread the word, can be found at http://www.nrcat.org/ Call4Art.