The Rights of Religious or Belief Minorities and Their Members in Prison: The European Space

This chapter deals with two of the most critical issues experienced by inmates belonging to a religion or belief different from the majority one: the respect for the dietary rules prescribed by their religion or belief, and spiritual assistance. The first issue examined is the European standards of human rights protection concerning religious or philosophical dietary rules, and the related case law of the European Court of Human Rights. Although the right to have food that is not forbidden by one’s own religion or belief is the central point of this section, other religious freedom-related complaints will be taken into account. The analysis of the second issue will draw primarily on the results of a recent research project, the Atlas of Religious or Belief Minorities (RBMs), aiming at mapping and measuring the rights of RBMs in the EU countries. This part of the chapter will focus on spiritual assistance for inmates belonging to 13 RBMs in 12 member states of the European Union, by examining how the right to receive spiritual assistance from one’s RBM representatives is guaranteed, whether prisons provide space for worship, prayer and meditation, and how the costs of spiritual care are met.