PRACTICE OF WORSHIP (OPINION)
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public order requirements, and in particular with the running
of communal life within the establishment, in that they might
create tensions; nevertheless, the impossibility of so doing
should be clearly established.
Organise chaplaincy services in the absence of any request
(but they cannot prevent any such applications from being
submitted, nor can they ignore them);
Assume responsibility for the fact that it is impossible to
appoint a chaplain because the competent religious authorities
have failed to put forward a suitable candidate.
Subject to these reserves, the authorities responsible for custodial
establishments must “be able to meet the requirements of the religious,
moral or spiritual life” (Code of Criminal Procedure, Article R. 57-9-3)
of the persons for whom it is responsible.
4/ This is not always the case today. In the current circumstances,
the authorities are likely to be accused not only of failing to apply
the necessary principles, especially in terms of equal treatment and
non-discrimination, but also of being unable to justify to detainees
some of the choices made, which gives rise to incomprehension visà-vis the necessary religious neutrality of the State and, sometimes,
to tensions.
5/ Generally speaking, just as “detainees are permitted to receive or
keep in their possession objects of religious practice and the books they
need for their spiritual life” (Article R. 57-9-7 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure), the same should apply to all persons held in custody on a
long-term basis, wherever they are held.
Consequently, all staff who work in such places, should not decide
what is and is not a religious object, but, after being trained to do
so, should be able to identify objects of prayer (e.g. phylacteries or a
ciborium) and, to the extent compatible with the smooth functioning
of communal life, they should pay special attention to this issue.
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People should be allowed to keep unobtrusive religious signs
or symbols in their possession, regardless of the nature of such
items.
The introduction of books that are “necessary to spiritual life”
should be allowed, in the ways provided for by the Code of
Criminal Procedure, especially where they are introduced by
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