Court Holds RLUIPA Applies To Private Prisons

In Dean v. Corrections Corporation of America, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 57962 (ND MS, Aug. 16, 2006), a Mississippi federal district court issued an opinion containing an important interpretation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. It held that, putting together the complex definitional sections of the statute, RLUIPA applies to a private correctional facility holding prisoners under contract with a state so long as the state receives federal funds for some part of its state prison system.