Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act

The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) is a United States federal law that prohibits the imposition of burdens on the ability of prisoners to worship as they please, and gives churches and other religious institutions a way to avoid zoning law restrictions on their property use. It also defines the term “religious exercise” to include “any exercise of religion, whether or not compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief,” and extended that definition as an amendment to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

RLUIPA was enacted by the US Congress in 2000 to correct, in part, the vacuum created by the Supreme Court’s decision to refuse to apply RFRA to the States. It also strengthened aspects of RFRA where it did apply.