A 125-mile walk from Chicago to Thomson ends Saturday for a group protesting solitary confinement.
Voices for Creative Non-Violence holds a rally outside Thomson Prison, where the federal government plans to add as many as 19-hundred isolation cells. The group’s co-coordinator Kathy Kelly says she hopes Thomson residents will join their rally. She says she sees this as “the beginning of an opportunity to learn more from people in this little town of 600.”
Kelly says her group considers solitary confinement a form of torture: they want money spent on prisons redirected to schools and hospitals. They’re calling on lawmakers to explain to their constituents why so many solitary confinement cells are necessary.
The walkers and supporters plan to gather at noon, then walk to downtown Thomson by one o’clock Saturday afternoon.
