Abstract:

Despite the undeniable presence of religion in prisons, there exists relatively little research. This project aims to evaluate religious freedom by exploring the relationship between sociopolitical factors and the outcomes of cases brought by incarcerated individuals under the “Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act” (RLUIPA). Exploring RLUIPA cases may highlight the ways in which carceral institutions deny religious freedom, specifically in connection with factors such as religious denomination, geography, and political background. Due to the opaque nature of carceral institutions, my hope is that these cases may serve as a proxy for individual testimony and survey. In order to complete this project, I intend to use CourtListener’s free API tool to mass-source RLUIPA case resolutions over the past 26 years. Then, this information will then be statistically coded using R between resolutions and various sociopolitical variables. These associations will then be described and analyzed to present a review of religious accessibility within prisons.

Research Objectives & Questions:

To present a comprehensive review of incarcerated individuals’ access to religious freedom and pluralism in carceral settings. 

To explore the way political, geographic, and social identities shape the resolutions of RLUIPA cases.

To describe the conditions of prisons in the United States and highlight the ways in which institutions infringe on and repress the rights of incarcerated individuals.

Background:

Prisons are well-known for being opaque institutions in which research is limited and challenging, often requiring external benchmarks to evaluate internal practices. Therefore research on the relationship between faith and recidivism is underdeveloped. The DOJ stated in 2011 that studies thus far have been weakly developed or do not effectively center this question in research. More recent studies (Stansfield, 2020) have been done showing a negative association between religious involvement and reconviction, though again, mixed information exists. Yet regardless, religious freedom is a human right and protected under the constitution. However, a 2025 USCCR report stated that “The Commission’s investigation reveals persistent and systemic barriers to religious freedom in prison. The report highlights how institutional rules, lack of religious diversity among staff and volunteers, and misapplication of security concerns often serve as unjustified impediments to free religious expression.” Additionally, the majority of RLUIPA filings are by minority faith populations regarding religious accomodations and exemptions. However, there exists minimal recent evaluations of RLUIPA case outcomes targeting the disproportionate obstacles faced by differing denominations. 

Methodology:

As mentioned, this project will use CourtListener’s API tool to source RLUIPA cases and resolutions over the past 26 years. CourtListener is a crowd-sourced non-profit organization that provides free access to the PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) system. Using R, the plaintiff’s name, the political party appointing the assigned judge, the filing date, the resolution date, the plaintiff’s religious denomination, the state in which the plaintiff is incarcerated, the type of complaint, and the resolution will all be extracted into a spreadsheet. This information will then be checked and validated. Then, I will run linear regression models for outcomes and other variables to explore sociopolitical correlates.

Potential Impact:

I spent the majority of the past two years volunteering weekly inside the Alexandria Detention Center, tutoring Creative Writing through the Georgetown Students for Prison Justice program. There I connected with various individuals who shared their experiences and beliefs with me. It was during this time that I realized how dehumanizing, repressive, restrictive, and demoralizing the carceral system could be. I also learned how important religion was for many of these individuals, and was drawn to exploring the capacity of religious freedom within a restrictive institution like a prison. The framework for protection exists in the RLUIPA. The barriers exist in respect, in the persistent failure to adhere to these policies even within a black-box like a prison. My hope is that this project will illuminate this system and the barriers that prevent religious freedom and diversity.