Bureau of Prisons' Inmate Religious Beliefs and Practices
Technical Reference Manual
This page links to individual chapters of the Federal Bureau of
Prisons' Technical
Reference Manual on Inmate Beliefs and Practices as of 11-8-07.
Introduction
Moorish Science Temple of America
Introduction
This Technical Reference Manual (TRM) on Practical Guidelines
for Administration of
Inmate Beliefs and Practices has been written to help chaplains
and administrative
personnel to appropriately facilitate the religious beliefs and
practices of inmates
within a correctional environment.
With the complexity of religious issues faced by Bureau chaplains
today and the large
number of religions represented in the inmate population, this
TRM will help chaplains
implement the mission of the Chaplaincy Services Branch in the
institutions they
serve.
The mission of the Chaplaincy Services Branch is to accommodate
the free exercise
of religion by providing pastoral care to all Federal inmates
and facilitate the
opportunity to pursue individual religious beliefs and practices
in accordance with the
law, Federal regulations, and Bureau policy. The staff chaplain
will provide religious
worship, education, counseling, spiritual direction, support,
and crisis intervention to
accommodate the diverse religious needs of inmates. When appropriate,
pastoral
care and subject matter expertise may be extended to staff.
The purposes of this TRM are:
To accommodate the provision of religious worship services
and programs
for the faith groups represented in the inmate population.
To provide guidance to chaplains and administrators in making
informed
decisions concerning religious issues that surface regularly,
so that the needs of
both the correctional environment and the "free exercise"
clause of the First
Amendment are met.
To encourage consistency of practice Bureau-wide, given the
mission and
level of security of the institutions.
To provide enough information about each religion for readers
to receive a
general understanding of its basic tenets.
The TRM must be read in conjunction with the latest version
of the Program
Statement "Religious Beliefs and Practices," other applicable
Program Statements,
Operations Memoranda, and specific directives that may be issued
as needed.
The suggested recommendations and "security notes" in
each chapter follow a "best
practices" guide, which takes the correctional environment
and the "free exercise"
clause of the First Amendment into account. Final program decisions
rest with the
Warden.
As additional chapters on the faith traditions are completed,
they will be added to the
TRM until all religions that have been approved for practice by
inmates are included.
Organization
The TRM follows the same outline for each chapter. The practical
issues for each
religion are placed in the front of the chapter, followed by discussions
of history,
theology, and recommended resources. If necessary, glossary and
appendixes follow
the chapters. The format for each chapter is:
Religious Practices
Required Daily Observances
Required Weekly Observances
Required Occasional Observances
Holy Days
Religious Items
Personal Religious Items
Congregate Religious Items
Searches
Requirements for Membership
Requirements
Total Membership
Medical Prohibitions
Dietary Standards
Burial Rituals
Sacred Writings
Organizational Structure
Location of Headquarters
Contact Office/Person
History
Theology
Resources (if warranted)*
Glossary (if warranted)
Appendixes (if warranted)
A Table of Contents adds more detail on particular religions when
this is helpful for
readers.
Note: Exercise caution when identifying resources (written, audio,
video, and
electronic) for use in religious programs. In particular, information
taken from the
Internet poses risks because claims are often not verifiable.
It is important to
periodically check the Chaplaincy Services Website to find reliable,
current resources.
General Considerations
An important principle for all religions is that inmates may not
be recognized as having
ecclesiastical/religious authority over other inmates (e.g., reverend,
deacon, elder,
imam, rabbi, priest...). The chaplain may call upon inmates to
help carry out the faith
practices or tenets of a religious group if the chaplain is not
a member of that religious
group and no contractor/volunteer is available. The chaplain may
also authorize an
inmate to act as a spokesperson.
The personal religious property items listed in each chapter are
generally transferable
to all institutions in the Bureau of Prisons. Additional personal
items may be approved
by the warden. Inmates need to be aware that additional items
may need to be sent
home when transferring to another institution. Final decisions
on personal property
rest with the warden.
Religious personal property is subject to search. Any search of
religious property will
be conducted in a manner consistent with Federal Bureau of Prisons
policy. Sacred,
religious, and cultural artifacts must be treated with respect
at all times.
Personal electronic religious resources (e.g., Bible, Qur'an,
Bible Dictionary,
Concordances, language translators, etc.) are not authorized religious
property.
Because gold is a precious medal and exceeds the $100 threshold
for personal
property, gold chains and medallions should not be authorized.
Acknowledgments
This Technical Reference Manual includes the work of many chaplains
in the Bureau
of Prisons. They have given generously of their time and efforts
in researching,
writing, and editing the chapters on the various faith traditions.
Contact with some
community religious leaders was made to ensure accuracy. In addition,
several
chapters were written by religious leaders of those faith traditions.
The following chaplains have contributed to this Technical Reference
Manual: Ibrahim
Aziz, Abu Ishaq Abdul-Hafiz, Jamaal Abdul-Rahim, Umar Abdulraheem,
Jerry Bailey,
Michael Brill, Brian Broome, Dickson Brown, Maryann Cantlon, Angela
Church, Willie
Crespo, Muktar Curtis, Joseph Deffenbaugh, Bruce Fenner, Joseph
Forgue, Reynold
Fujikawa, Ronald Gonzales, Dennis Grabrian, Madison Harness, Keith
Harrison, Hans
Hoch, Jacob Hoenig, Abdulfattah Jamiu, John Lamsma, Nochum Laskin,
Kyung Hee
Lee, Michael Longanecker, Basil Mihyar, Neil Milligan, Maryann
Palko, Anders
Pedersen, Keith Powley, Daniel Pulju, Mateen Sabree, Abdulrrahman
Sykes, Charles
Smith, Marie Stelmach, Alan Urasaki, Susan Van Baalen, Hensworth
Weaver, Alvin
Worthley, Jimmie Wright, and Ridwan Yusuf.
The Bureau of Prisons is also very appreciative of the expertise
provided by the
American Academy of Religion (AAR). The AAR's vast network of
academic scholars
is extremely valuable not only in the review of this manual, but
as a resource for the
agency in addressing areas of religious accommodation in the correctional
environment.
I wish to thank all chaplains and community religious leaders
who have contributed
their time, efforts, skills, and dedication to make this Technical
Reference Manual
available for use by all Bureau of Prisons chaplains and administrators.
It has truly
been a team effort.
Susan M. Van Baalen, O.P.
Chaplaincy Services Administrator
Note: This Technical Reference Manual is written for the use of
Bureau
chaplains and administrators. It is not to be distributed, copied,
or viewed by
inmates.