This report provides an update to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights’ 2008 statutory enforcement report: Enforcing Religious Freedom in Prison. That report examined the legal foundation of prisoners’ religious exercise rights, and the rules and guidelines related to religion in federal and state prisons and local jails. It also researched the mechanisms prisons and jails use to facilitate religious requests (where feasible), and to record and process prisoner grievances related to religious exercise. Given the significance of this topic, the Commission voted in December 2023 to update its 2008 report.
The purpose of this update is to evaluate how incarcerated individuals can exercise their religious freedoms, as well as assess how the religious composition of prisoners and court interpretations of RLUIPA claims may have changed since 2007. This report also examines the grievance process, as well as grievances from a sample of carceral facilities, to determine if prisoner complaints about barriers to practicing religion have substantially changed since 2007. Lastly, the unprecedented pandemic that began in 2020 warrants the Commission’s attention to religious freedom in prison as restrictions enacted in response to COVID-19 may have introduced novel and lasting impediments to prisoners’ free exercise of religion.