Spain: Religion in Prisons – Socio-Legal Perspectives

Abstract

This chapter offers an overview of the situation of religion and religious diversity in Spanish prisons from a legal and a sociological perspective. After a brief introduction to the recent history of religion in the penitentiary system in Spain that focuses mostly on the second half of the twentieth century, the chapter presents the current situation after the democratisation of the country in the last quarter of the twentieth century. An overview is provided of the main developments that have led to a pluralistic legal framework and a situation of institutionalised organisational pluralism in which the traces of the Catholic past are still very present and visible. Qualitative and ethnographic data provide information about the actual situation, concerning concrete issues such as the organisation of the chaplaincy and the accreditation of chaplains, the arrangement of spaces and the presence of symbols, the organisation of religious celebrations and rites, and other related activities. The chapter draws on rich empirical data collected for the GEDIVER-IN project (The “GEDIVER-IN: The management of religious diversity in hospitals and prisons in Spain” project was funded by the National Research Programme of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and co-directed by Joan Estruch and Mar Griera).