Prisons

Prisoners are at the mercy of prison guards and wardens in all aspects of their daily lives, including how and when (and even if) they worship, pray, or otherwise observe the precepts of their faith. This inevitably creates conflicts between the prisoner and the state, implicating issues of diet, sacramental observance, grooming, access to religious texts, and group assembly.

The Becket Fund works to achieve an equitable balance between the legitimate need of correctional institutions to maintain the security of their facilities, and the fundamental human right to religious exercise enjoyed by every human person. Section 3 of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) is an important tool for achieving this balance.

Litigation

Our Cases

• Americans United for Separation of Church and State v. Prison Fellowship Ministries and InnerChange Freedom Initiative
• Benning v. Amideo
• Cotton v. Florida Dept. of Corrections
• Cutter v. Wilkinson
• Iran -- Criminalizing Religious Conversion -- Saeed Salman
• Johnson v. Martin
• Madison v. Riter
• Moussazadeh v. Texas Department of Criminal Justice, et al.
• Tayr Kilaab al Ghashiyah v. Wisconsin Dept. of Corrections
• Williams v. Bitner

Media Releases

2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000