(Religion News) A coalition of 20 faith groups is pressing prison officials across the country to accommodate all prisoners’ religious needs during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, particularly with Ramadan around the corner.
“Prisons remain under an obligation to accommodate religious practice to the maximum extent possible, even as they act to mitigate the health crisis,” reads the letter, sent to administrators of all federal and state prison systems. “We remain deeply concerned that prisons will use this crisis as an excuse to deny basic religious accommodations to prisoners in their care.”
The letter, sent by the civil rights group Muslim Advocates, was signed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, National Council of Churches, Unitarian Universalist Association, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association and other faith-based organizations.
