The Yale Law Journal

Prisons and Jails

Article

Free-World Law Behind Bars

Aaron Littman

In the “free world,” we look to regulatory rather than constitutional law to keep us healthy, safe, and connected. But inside prison walls, regulatory law recedes. This Article considers its failure to protect prisoners; its substantive, procedural, and normative advantages over constitutional law; …

Note

Sincerity, Religious Questions, and the Accommodation Claims of Muslim Prisoners

Adeel Mohammadi

Current First Amendment doctrine permits courts to judge a claimant’s religious sincerity in a free-exercise suit but prohibits them from adjudicating religious questions. This Note challenges that understanding by explaining and evaluating how courts treat Muslim prisoner accommodation claims in pr…

Review

The Politics of Decarceration

Rebecca Goldstein

Can the political process help undo mass incarceration? This Book Review argues that changes in the two major political parties, the results of recent state-level elections, and changes in public opinion all provide reason to hope that democratic politics is compatible with ending mass incarceration…