Religion in Corrections

This Note argues that courts must adhere to strict scrutiny, not only in theory, but also in practice. In doing so, it first gives a brief, general overview of the history of religious freedom in the prison system, with particular focus on the efforts and struggles of religious minorities. Then it addresses the inconsistency between Cutter and Holt while comparing the due deference and hard look approaches.

Faculty and students in Harvard Law’s Religious Freedom Clinic work on a pair of cases seeking justice for incarcerated Rastafarians whose dreadlocks were shorn by prison officials.

This paper, with a focus on the development and implementation of prisoners’ religious rights, will cover four main sections. Section I will set out the beginnings of prisoners’ rights. This section details the constitutional framework of these rights with a focus on incarcerated individuals in prisons and proceeds with the statutory frameworks of the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act (“RFRA”) as well as RLUIPA.

1) trends in religious freedom revealed by Freedom House’s research and programming, 2) conditions in China, where religious persecution is happening on a mass scale, and 3) recommendations for how the United States and other democracies can strengthen targeted sanctions programs to apply them with greater impact.

Religious Freedom in Focus is a periodic email update about the Civil Rights Division's religious liberty and religious discrimination cases.

In 2018, the global median level of government restrictions on religion – that is, laws, policies and actions by officials that impinge on religious beliefs and practices – continued to climb, reaching an all-time high since Pew Research Center began tracking these trends in 2007.

The objective of this audit was to assess the Federal Bureau of Prisons' (BOP) management and oversight of its Chaplaincy Services Program to support faith-based activities and its effectiveness in preventing security risks and misuse of program resources.

The present study examines narratives of individuals who spoke about their experiences while incarcerated during the pandemic. The data for the study were gathered from prison reform advocacy organizations that featured individuals’ stories. The narrative findings provide insight into the traumatic experiences that incarcerated people endured, how institutional failures exacerbated their mistrust of the criminal legal system, and their efforts to cope.

This body of research implications is discussed: the restrictions imposed by the pandemic and the overcrowded conditions at this facility have impeded the Baldwin State chaplain's ability to adequately provide the pastoral care and counseling required for this facility during the COVID-19 pandemic. This lack of pastoral care and counseling results in moral issues and increased mental health challenges throughout the facility.

The lawsuit, filed in Jefferson County by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and attorneys for the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, takes aim at a Department of Correction's policy that barred visitors from prisons in March 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic swept the state.

Restrictions related to the COVID-19 outbreak have made observing Ramadan more difficult for Muslims in prisons and jails.

The global coronavirus pandemic of 2020 has disrupted every type of Christian ministry. This article considers the particular impact on prison chaplaincy, which relies so heavily on the idea of physical presence. The prison preaching and wider theology of Karl Barth are explored as a possible framework to help practitioners adapt their ministry approaches with integrity in this era of social distancing.

When the PLRA was being debated, lawmakers who supported it claimed that too many people behind bars were filing frivolous cases against the government. In fact, incarcerated people are not particularly litigious. Instead, they often face harsh, discriminatory, and unlawful conditions of confinement — and when mistreated, they have little recourse outside the courts.