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Institutional Logic and Legal Practice: Modes of Regulation of Religious Organizations in German Prisons

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Religious Diversity in European Prisons

Abstract

The chapter explores how the constitutionally guaranteed right of corporative religious freedom is negotiated in German prisons. It does so by looking at the regulatory factors, such as structural and legal conditions, and by studying the religious groups’ modes of negotiating. These negotiations take place under well-defined conditions set on the one hand by the legal state–church relationships in Germany, on the other, by the logic of specific prisons. The author concludes that the research on religion in prison, and on the relation of religion and law, should take place on various levels and from different perspectives, because there are several understandings of what is meant by ‘religion’, and several legal practices.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The article refers to some results of my research project about the legal practice of positive religious freedom in German prisons. In my project, I explore the negotiation and organization of religious diversity in German prisons. I focus on prisons for male offenders with a long-term sentence of at least 3 years. The goal of the research was to analyse how the right to religious freedom is negotiated in the German penal system. Based on the approaches of the sociology of law and the study of religion, I conducted field studies in German prisons and semi-structured guideline interviews with both prison staff and prison inmates in several German prisons. The selection of the prison-sample was related to regional differences (e.g. urban, rural, or religious landscape) in order to get a broad base of empirical data. For the studies on site, I took 1 week to explore the particular circumstances of each institution. In sum, I collected 80 interviews, numerous documents, and conducted six field studies by way of participant observation. The data was analysed anonymously and by means of the method of qualitative content analysis (Mayring 2010). The results of the project will be published in 2015.

  2. 2.

    This was a primary result of field-studies in prisons in northern and eastern Germany.

  3. 3.

    This was primarily a result of field studies in West Germany and northern Bavaria prisons.

  4. 4.

    These are religious organizations who understand themselves in opposition to the so called ‘mainstream churches’ (Protestant Church of Germany and Roman Catholic Church of Germany) as so-called ‘free-churches’ or smaller groups.

  5. 5.

    As the laws of the federal states vary on this point only in order, but not in content, the national law is quoted throughout. The used translation is provided by the Language Service of the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection. The translation includes the amendment(s) to the Act by Article 4 of the Act of 5.12.2012. Italics added by the author.

  6. 6.

    Italics added by the author. The first sentence is a common understanding of ‘rehabilitation’ and ‘security’ like Cornel 2009 describes.

  7. 7.

    Italics added by the author.

  8. 8.

    Italics by Goffman.

  9. 9.

    ‘Prison sphere’ is a wider understanding of ‘prison institution’ while the first one includes not only the house where the prison sentence is carried out. The ‘prison sphere’ also means transition management after the detention or alternative penalties.

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Internet Resources

Legal Texts

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Translation

  • Original German quotes and transcriptions are the author’s literal translations.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Religious Studies—CERES, Ruhr-University Bochum, Universitätsstraße 90 A, 44789, Bochum, Germany

    Sarah J. Jahn

Authors
  1. Sarah J. Jahn
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Correspondence to Sarah J. Jahn .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. ISSRC - FTSR, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Irene Becci

  2. Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studi, European University Institute, Florence, Italy

    Olivier Roy

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Jahn, S. (2015). Institutional Logic and Legal Practice: Modes of Regulation of Religious Organizations in German Prisons. In: Becci, I., Roy, O. (eds) Religious Diversity in European Prisons. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16778-7_6

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