CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Robert King, who spent 29 years in solitary confinement in Louisiana State Penitentiary for a false conviction, will discuss his journey and the experience of being in solitary confinement alongside policy advocates working on the front lines of prison reform at the University of North Carolina School of Law on Friday, April 10.
The event, which is free and open to the public, will feature a conversation with King and Rev. Nancy Petty of Pullen Baptist Memorial Church in Raleigh, followed by a panel discussion about the use of solitary confinement in North Carolina and across the country, its physical and psychological impact on inmates, its relationship to American and international human rights laws, and the growing movement to reform and eventually end the use of solitary confinement in the United States.
A report released in November 2014 by the Human Rights Policy Seminar at the University of North Carolina School of Law concluded that solitary confinement is a cruel, inhuman and degrading form of punishment that amounts to torture and must no longer be used in the United States.
What: “Solitary Confinement as Torture”
Who:
- Robert King, one of the “Angola Three,” who spent 29 years in solitary confinement for a false conviction
- Deborah Weissman, Reef Ivey II Distinguished Professor of Law, UNC School of Law, who served as faculty adviser for the 2014 report “Solitary Confinement as Torture”
- Chris Brook, Legal Director, ACLU of North Carolina
- Christina Cowger, Facilitator, NC Stop Torture Now
- Elizabeth Simpson, Staff Attorney, North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services
- Mark Bowers, Attorney, Legal Services of Southern Piedmont
- Moira Artigues, Forensic Psychologist
When: Friday, April 10, 2015 – 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Where: University of North Carolina School of Law, Room 4085, 160 Ridge Rd, Chapel Hill, NC 27599
For more information, or to RSVP, please visit our events page.
Sponsored by North Carolina Advocates for Justice, UNC School of Law, NC Stop Torture Now, and the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Legal Foundation.