Forbidden to Believe: Freedom of religion or belief in Cuba’s prisons

Since the early days of the Revolution, the Cuban Communist Party (CCP) has viewed religious practice as something to be controlled as tightly as possible. The forced separation of people from religious communities has been used systematically by the government as a tactic to socially isolate individuals and their families. Inside prisons, where officials have direct power over every aspect of the lives of those incarcerated there, these tactics take even more extreme forms. 

Over the past five years, harsh restrictions on freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) in Cuba’s prison system have increasingly become systematic and widespread, following some limited improvements in the early 2010s. This trend comes alongside a massive increase in the overall prison population, including a steep rise in the number of political prisoners. Penalties for all types of crimes have been made more severe in the criminal code that came into force in 2022, and a crackdown that accelerated in 2021 on anything perceived by the government as dissent is ongoing. 

Cuba systematically violates the right to FoRB of all prisoners, both common and political. Detainees are routinely denied the right to be visited by a leader associated with their religious group or any religious group at all. Most are barred from keeping religious literature, including a Bible, with them. None of those for whom specific apparel is required by their religion are permitted to wear such items. Prisoners are not allowed to congregate with others of the same religious beliefs in order to practise their religion. Those who attempt to perform religious rituals or even to pray on their own report being threatened, verbally abused, and in some cases physically stopped from doing so.

Reforms of all kind, and at every level, are urgent and necessary. The international community must continue to press the Cuban government to respond to the cry of its people and enact swift, effective and just change inside and outside its prisons.

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