Skip to Content

Wiki source code of CH 01 Access to Religion

Last modified by superadmin on 2021/04/06 18:41
Hide last authors
Ryan Larkin 1.1 1 **Washington County Sheriff's Office**
2
3 **CORRECTIONS DIVISION**
4
5 Policy Manual
6
7
8 Volume: CH
9
10 Services and Programs
11
12 Chapter: 01
13
14 Access to Religion
15
16
17 Replaces and/or Supersedes:
18
19 CH 01 03/13/2012
20
21 Published:
22
23 06/23/2014
24
25 Review Date:
26
Ryan Larkin 4.1 27 04/06/2021
Ryan Larkin 1.1 28
29
30 Sheriff Cory C. Pulsipher
31
32 Chief Deputy Jake Schultz
33
34
35 **__TABLE OF CONTENTS__**
36
37 CH 01_101 Definitions
38
39 CH 01_102 References
40
41 CH 01_103 General
42
43 CH 01_104 Services
44
45 CH 01_105 Religious Diet
46
47 CH 01_106 Hair Length and Beards
48
49
50 **CH 01_101 __DEFINITIONS__**
51
52 1. WCSO: Washington County Sheriff's Office
53 1. PCF: Purgatory Correctional Facility
54 1. RLUIPA: Religion and Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act
55
56 **CH 01_102 __REFERENCES__**
57
58 1. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Standards:
59 11. 2000-14.
60 1. Religion and Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act
61 1. Utah Counties Insurance Pool:
62 11. V.A.3.
63 1. Utah Sheriff's Association Jail Standards:
64 11. P02.01.01: Written Religious Access Policies and Procedures Required
65 11. P02.01.02: Content: Access to Religion Policies and Procedures
66 11. P02.02.01: Prisoners' Constitutional Rights to Religion.
67 11. P02.02.02: Restricting Inmates First Amendment Religious Rights
68 11. P02.03.01: Prisoners’ Rights to Religion under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.
69 11. P03.02.01: Access to Clergy.
70 11. P03.02.02: Eligibility of Clergy to Enter Facilities.
71 11. P03.02.03: Religious Services.
72 11. P03.03.01: Religious Diets: Nutritional Requirements.
73 11. P03.03.02: Religious Diets: Meeting Religious Requirements.
74 11. P03.04.01: General Considerations.
75 11. P03.04.02: Facial Hair.
76
77 **CH 01_103 __GENERAL__**
78
79 1. Policy:
80 11. Inmates shall be provided the opportunity for the free exercise of religion, subject to the limitations imposed by their incarceration.
81 11. Restrictions on the free exercise of religion cannot:
82 111. Be unreasonable; or
83 111. Violate RLUIPA requirements.
84 11. Inmates shall be allowed at least one religious book of their choice, even when those materials are inflammatory, racist, or otherwise undesirable, unless there is a compelling reason based on safety, security, or PCF interests and banning the materials is the least restrictive alternative.
85 11. Inmates shall be allowed to possess religious items as regulated by the current Inmate Property Matrix (reference policy: [[CG 04 Orientation and Rules>>doc:Policy.Corrections.CG 04 Orientation and Rules.WebHome]]). Possession of religious items is restricted to the inmate housing units. Specific exceptions to religious items leaving the housing units must be requested and granted through the jail administration.
Ryan Larkin 2.1 86 11. PCF shall not be required to purchase religious books or materials for inmates.
Ryan Larkin 1.1 87 11. Inmate members of faiths not represented by clergy may conduct their own services within security allowances.
88 11. Inmates in special management units may receive clergy visits and may practice their religion within security allowances.
89 1. Rationale:
90 11. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion.
91 11. “Lawful incarceration brings about the necessary withdrawal or limitation of many privileges and rights, a retraction justified by the considerations underlying our penal system” ( O'Lone v. Estate of Shabazz, 482 U.S. 342, 348 (1987), quoting, Price v. Johnston, 334 U.S. 266, 285 (1948).
92 11. “The limitations on the exercise of constitutional rights arise both from the fact of incarceration and from valid penological objectives...including deterrence of crime, rehabilitation of prisoners, and institutional security” (O'Lone v. Shabazz, 482 U.S. 342, 348 (1987); Pell v. Procunier, 417 U.S. 817, 822-823 (1974); Procunier v. Martinez, 416 U.S. 396, 412 (1974)).
93
94 **CH 01_104 __SERVICES__**
95
96 1. Policy:
Ryan Larkin 4.1 97 11. PCF does not require inmates to declare a specific religion unless the inmate desires to attend congregate services outside the inmate's housing section, or request a special religious diet. Inmates who desire to attend congregate services outside their housing section must declare a specific religion. Inmates shall only be allowed to attend congregate out-of-section services for their declared religion.
Ryan Larkin 3.1 98 11. Inmates must wait a minimum of thirty days before changing their declared religion for purposes of congregate out-of-section services. This does not prevent an inmate from practicing any religion of their choice, at any time, within their housing section or through non-congregate services.
Ryan Larkin 1.1 99 11. Non-congregate services, including clergy visits, shall be reasonably accommodated.
100 11. Scheduling of non-congregate services shall be initiated upon specific request from an inmate.
101 1. Rationale:
102 11. Regulating procedures for congregate out-of-section services is necessary in order to maintain manageable attendance levels because:
103 111. Religious service classrooms are limited in size;
104 111. PCF resources, including staff levels, are limited.
Ryan Larkin 3.1 105 11. Regulating procedures for congregate out-of-section services is necessary in order to maintain order and discipline because congregate out-of-section services are common venues for inmates to gain access to inmates from other sections (which is otherwise prohibited). Access is commonly used by inmates to advance prohibited or illegal activities (e.g., contraband distribution, witness tampering, strong-arming, assaults, etc.). A thirty day minimum declaration period inhibits the frequency and effectiveness of inmate misconduct.
Ryan Larkin 1.1 106 11. Inmate rights to practice the religion of their choice, at any time, are not significantly restricted since inmates may:
107 111. Practice any religion of their choice, at any time, within their housing section; and
108 111. Request a non-congregate service at any time.
109
110 **CH 01_105 __RELIGIOUS DIET__**
111
112 1. Policy:
113 11. Special religious diets will be accommodated whenever reasonably possible (reference policy: [[CH 06 Food Services>>doc:Policy.Corrections.CH 06 Food Services.WebHome]]).
114 11. Whenever reasonably possible, recognized holy-day observances shall be accommodated by honoring fasting requirements.
115 1. Rationale:
116 11. Religious diets may be accepted religious practices that are protected by law.
117
118 **CH 01_106 __HAIR LENGTH AND BEARDS__**
119
120 1. Policy:
Ryan Larkin 1.2 121 11. Hair length and beards will not be restricted as long as they do not create a health or hygiene problem (reference policy: [[CH 13 Personal Hygiene>>doc:Policy.Corrections.CH 13 Personal Hygiene.WebHome]]).
Ryan Larkin 1.1 122 1. Rationale:
123 11. Specific hair grooming practices may be accepted religious practices that are protected by law.