UDC

94(73).04

Authors

Svetlana A. Vasil’eva
The Academy of the FPS of Russia; ul. Sennaya 1, Ryazan, 390000, Russian Federation;
e-mail: vasi-svetlana@yandex.ru

Abstract

This article examines the impact of the theological views of the representatives of American Protestant denominations on the formation of prison religion – a set of religious beliefs and practices, usually based on the typical for inmates conviction that imprisonment is a test, an ordeal. In American prison reforms, progressive correctional systems were based on the religious principles of that Protestant group, which initiated and financed the first penitentiary (correctional facility) in its state. Historically, the first prison theology – a concept of theological justification of imprisonment – was suggested by the adherents of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Their religious principles, primarily the idea of the Inner Light, were implemented in the model of solitary confinement, the Bible being its main attribute. According to Quakers, close reading of the Bible would result in deep reflection and bring back the stray sheep to the fold. Imprisonment was seen as a result of God’s will to force the offender to seek the Inner Light and part of God in himself. The hope of this theology was that with God’s help the inmate would leave the prison a refined person. An alternative to the Quaker’s prison theology was suggested by American Calvinists. According to them, the prison is a representation of Purgatory on Earth, designed to purify the convict “in the furnace of affliction”. This theology saw imprisonment not as suffering and humiliation, but as suffering and purification. Within this theological concept, the Calvinist doctrine on the legitimacy of the state’s involvement in the implementation of divine justice was further developed.

Keywords

American Protestant denominations, prison theology, prison religion, penitentiary reforms in the USA, correctional facility, penitentiary, American prison chaplains

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