RFRA and RLUIPA: underused tools for defending the religious freedom rights of incarcerated and detained people.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”) and Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUIPA”) are important yet underutilized tools for civil rights attorneys defending constitutional rights of incarcerated people in federal and state institutions. These protections extend beyond carceral settings to detained immigrants struggling to secure basic articles of faith, religious diets, and permission for religious practice.

Our panelists will draw on their advocacy and litigation experiences from multiple jurisdictions to discuss how RFRA and RLUIPA have been used to secure religious freedom behind bars, as well as the common obstacles practitioners face when attempting to invoke these statutes.