It has been understood for decades that conditions in Cuba\u2019s maximum-security prisons are terrible. They have only grown worse over the past few years as the entire country has experienced an economic and infrastructure crisis, with critical shortages of food and medicine across the country alongside the repeat failure of the island\u2019s entire electrical grid, sometimes for days at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since 1989, the Cuban government has refused access to the International Committee of the Red Cross to monitor or assess prison conditions. Prisoners are held in unhygienic, sometimes overcrowded conditions, in cells infested with mosquitoes and bedbugs. The food served to prisoners is unpalatable, riddled with insects and worms, and low in nutrition. Despite rampant disease, including tuberculosis, dengue, and dysentery outbreaks, throughout the prison facilities, medical attention is inadequate, if provided at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the hot and humid summer months, temperatures inside the cells can rise to dangerous levels. Multiple former political prisoners have told CSW that the only water they had extremely limited access to, both for drinking and personal hygiene, was cloudy or dirty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\nPrisoners are regularly subjected to treatment that meets the threshold to be considered torture \u2013 for example, keeping inmates in cells with bright lights on permanently, or placement in solitary confinement in punishment cells, with limited ventilation and no light at all.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Verbal and physical abuse by prison officials is not just tolerated but encouraged. A July 2025 Human Rights Watch report<\/a> based on interviews with recently or temporarily released prisoners found that inmates were regularly subjected to beatings and other forms of torture including being \u2018…subjected to stress positions such as \u201cthe bicycle\u201d (also known as the \u201cwheelbarrow\u201d), in which prisoners are forced to run, handcuffed, with their arms raised above their heads\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FoRB as a \u2018privilege\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The prison system is run by the Ministry of Interior (MININT), which is also responsible for Cuba\u2019s Department of State Security (DSE), the country\u2019s domestic intelligence and surveillance apparatus. The vast majority of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) violations documented by CSW over the past decade involve DSE officers who routinely surveil, harass and threaten religious leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MININT officials are experts in how to most effectively exert psychological pressure on individuals, and are keenly aware of the role spirituality can play in the mental health of an individual. It should come as no surprise, then, that FoRB violations take place systematically and regularly across Cuba\u2019s penitentiary system, in contravention of international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The internationally accepted Nelson Mandela Rules (or United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners) are clear that FoRB is to be considered a basic human right and treated as such, even inside prison. In contrast, and in violations of these rules, MININT has historically treated FoRB as a privilege that can be restricted or removed by the authorities as a punishment, or entirely arbitrarily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Five years after the arrest of 75 civil society activists in Cuba\u2019s \u2018Black Spring\u2019 of 2003, CSW carried out a survey of the families of political prisoners in an attempt to assess and better understand prisoners\u2019 experiences of FoRB. The subsequent report found that, for political prisoners, the right to FoRB simply did not exist. They were not permitted to keep religious literature, including bibles, to practice their religion in communion with others who shared their faith, and, for the most part, were routinely denied the right to receive religious visits. Indeed, at the time, Cuba had no mechanism set up to allow for any kind of regulated prison ministry for those of any religion or belief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few years after the report was published, the Cuban government announced the creation of a new licensing process for those who wished to engage in prison ministry. It was imperfect. Only religious leaders who were part of legally recognised religious groups were eligible to receive a prison ministry permit, excluding groups like the Apostolic Movement, and, as it was led by a pastor who was member of the Cuban Council of Churches, the process was framed around Christian ministry, excluding, for example, followers of Afro-Cuban religions, thought to be practiced to some degree by about 70% of Cuba\u2019s population. It was, however, a step in the right direction, and in subsequent years prisoners reported that they were able to receive religious visits and keep religious materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Advances eliminated<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Things began to change in the late 2010s, as the government increasingly reverted to hardline tactics in its attempts to suppress dissident activity. This escalated with the formation of the San Isidro Movement in 2018, which brought together academics, journalists, and artists of all types protesting Decree 349 which mandated state authorisation prior to engaging in any artistic activity. The spread of acute economic hardship during the global pandemic led to more general social unrest and culminated in spontaneous, island wide, peaceful demonstrations on 11 July 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe crackdown was immediate, harsh, and violent. Protesters were beaten and detained. Some were released, but many were charged with various crimes, given summary trials months later and sentenced to anywhere from a few to 30 years in prison. The already bloated prison population swelled to give Cuba, in 2025, one of the highest rates of prisoners per capita in the world<\/a>, with an estimated 794 prisoners for every 100,000 inhabitants.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, CSW began to receive reports that indicated that any advances made in the protection of FoRB rights in Cuba\u2019s prisons over the previous decade were quickly being eliminated. Prisoners were no longer able to receive and keep religious materials. Some relatives of political prisoners told CSW of how prison officials routinely ridiculed and publicly humiliated them because of their religious beliefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A particular flashpoint around the right to receive religious visits became clear. Political prisoners who made formal requests for religious visits were refused. The government went a step further, however, harassing and threatening family members of political prisoners as well as religious leaders who were advocating for their religious rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the increase and consistency in the details of such reports from across the country and different religious groups, CSW decided to revisit the issue. With funding provided by CSW USA, on the ground documenters were able to carry out interviews with 181 prisoners. In contrast to the 2008 report, this time the study included not only political prisoners but also those sentenced for \u2018common\u2019 crimes. It is worth noting that a few participants said that while they had been charged with \u2018common\u2019 crimes, they believe the reason for their imprisonment to be political. In addition, a number of the participating \u2018common criminals\u2019 are serving sentences for having slaughtered their own livestock, in one case a chicken, for food, without first obtaining permission from the government, an offence carrying a three to eight year prison sentence as of 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Institutionalised violations<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The findings were stark. Both political and common prisoners routinely experience systematic and serious violations of the Nelson Mandela Rules. Possession of religious materials, including a bible, is generally not permitted. Congregating with others of the same faith for religious purposes inside the prison is not allowed. The majority, including many who had submitted multiple formal requests, had been refused the right to receive visits from a leader of their religion, or any religion at all. Interestingly, there was no differentiation between political and common prisoners in terms of who experienced these types of violations and in some areas common prisoners saw a more wholesale violation of their FoRB than their political counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThere were two troubling consistencies experienced by all participants. First, prisoners are not allowed to wear items of apparel required by their religion. This negatively affects members of various religious groups including those who practice Afro-Cuban belief systems which incorporate the wearing of items including necklaces, bracelets and amulets.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Second, all prisoners reported that they are regularly subjected to ridicule by prison officials, with many pointing to warnings by guards that belief in a divine power is nonsensical inside the prison where the officials hold supreme authority. Prison officials were reported as saying things like \u2018You’ll never get out of here if you keep believing in God,\u2019 \u2018Forget about God, God doesn’t exist,\u2019 \u2018Let God get you out of here,\u2019 \u2018You’ll get out of here when God comes down to earth,\u2019 \u2018Let God help you,\u2019 \u2018The only God here is me,\u2019 and \u2018Here, whatever I say happens, here I am God.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the efforts of MININT, however, many of those enduring horrendous conditions in Cuba penitentiary systems have found ways to maintain their religious beliefs even in the face of institutionalised attempts to destroy them. One Afro-Cuban religious practitioner told CSW that he has faith that \u2018May He give me the strength to move forward. I believe in Him first, and then in my Orishas, and I know He will help me.\u2019 Another, a Christian, shared \u2018God is the one who guides my path, therefore I wait patiently for him to determine what new things I must face, but I am certain that soon all this will change. God, I trust in you.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n