Religion and spirituality are embedded in institutions that manage and treat those who are labeled mentally ill, criminal, or deviant. Prisons, hospitals, and therapeutic environments may seem like secular spaces, yet religion persists within them. It can take the form of structured programming or informal practices, and frequently plays a role in people’s internal coping mechanisms. Religion has been a part of these spaces since the beginning, so this website examines how religion perseveres in institutional settings, how spiritual needs are navigated, and how these interactions reveal the tension between religion and science.
To be clear, this project does not argue whether religion should or should not be included in institutions. It focuses on analysis of various studies, how religion is implemented, how it’s viewed by staff and patients, and the role spiritual guides take.
It’s important to note that incarcerated people and psychiatric patients have legally protected religious rights under the constitution and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. This is to guarantee people’s freedom to practice religion, and it requires institutions to make reasonable accommodations for people. This legal framework is essential for understanding why institutions must negotiate and take religious needs seriously.
This project is guided by a Mad Studies lens. Mad Studies centers the voices and experiences of people who are labeled “mad”, critiques psychiatric authority, and questions who has the power to determine if someone is having a legitimate spiritual experience or if they are mentally ill. The subject shows how race, gender, class, and colonial history shapes the religious experiences that institutions tolerate, suppress, or frame as symptoms of illness. Using this perspective, spirituality becomes an area where power, personal agency, and mental health meet in complex and (often) contradictory ways.