Resource: RLUIPA at Four: Evaluating the Success and Constitutionality of RLUIPA’s Prisoner Provisions

Part I of this article provides a historical overview of the protection of the religious exercise rights of prisoners in the United States and a description of RLUIPA’s legislative history. Part II examines RLUIPA’s provisions in detail and lays out what a prisoner must prove to invoke RLUIPA’s jurisdictional provision, what remedies a prisoner is entitled to under RLUIPA, what a prisoner must prove to establish a substantial burden on religious exercise, and what type of religious exercise is protected under RLUIPA. Part III of this article then turns to an empirical examination of how RLUIPA prisoner claims have fared in the first four years of the Act’s existence.