What is it about?
Starting with a short history of the prison administration in Latvia, the author describes the contemporary legal status of prison chaplaincy, prison regulations for religious practices, accommodation of individual religious beliefs and collective religious practices. In Latvia’s multi-denominational situation, the overwhelming majority of prison chaplains are Protestants. However, the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church compensate for this deficiency through the work of volunteer chaplains. By comparing the number of spiritual services provided by permanently employed and volunteer chaplains, the author concludes that volunteer chaplains provide a large contribution to the spiritual care of convicted persons in Latvia. When comparing work with convicted persons individually and in groups, data show that individual work constitute 62% of all activities organized by religious organizations in prisons.
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Why is it important?
The paper highlights some cases of religious discrimination in prison, associated with keeping of religious items and food, and discusses the ministering in prisons.
Perspectives
Taking into account the poor forecast regarding possibilities for the development of research in Latvia, it can be predicted that, in future as well, only studies conducted in other countries will be taken into account in valuating the efficacy of religious programs and developing prison policy in Latvia.
Prof. Anita Stasulane
Daugavpils Universitate
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Religion and Prison: An Overview of Contemporary Europe, January 2020, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-36834-0.
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