Shining the Light: Giving In Action – IAHR, Interfaith Action for Human Rights

On Sunday, November 16, 2025 at 1:15 PM in the Stony Run Dining room, the Interfaith Action for Human Rights will present their work to the Stony Run community. We hope you will join us!

Interfaith Action for Human Rights (IAHR) is a non-profit organization that unites people from various faith backgrounds to advocate for human rights, with a primary focus on the corrections system. They operate in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., and their main goal is to reform a system that they believe is overly punitive and instead promote practices that prioritize rehabilitation and the successful re-entry of formerly incarcerated individuals into society.

Stony Run member, Suzanne O’Hatnick, is a co-founder of IAHR and currently serves on the IAHR Council of Advisors along with Stony Run member, Margaret Allen. Other Stony Run members or attenders have participated as citizen activists and in the IAHR Pen Pal Program. Stony Run also provides financial support for IAHR through our annual budget. IAHR offers tangible ways we Quakers can live our values through board or council service, citizen action, program participation and financial support.

Through advocacy, public education, and direct support, IAHR seeks to end long-term solitary confinement in Maryland, which they consider a form of torture. IAHR also advocates for better conditions for incarcerated individuals, including improved healthcare, mental health services, and education, lobbying for legislative change. The organization works to inform the public about issues within the corrections system. They aim to raise awareness about prison reform and counter bigotry and prejudice directed at vulnerable populations. Through IAHR's Pen Pal program, the organization seeks to lesson the isolation prisoners often experience.