---
title: Researcher’s New Book Reveals Spirituality Is a Powerful Force in Women’s Prisons
date: 2023-04-25T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/researchers-new-book-reveals-spirituality-is-a-powerful-force-in-womens-prisons"
section: Articles
---
# Researcher’s New Book Reveals Spirituality Is a Powerful Force in Women’s Prisons

*April 25, 2023* — by [Laura Ours](/author/laura-ours)


> Religion Supports Incarcerated Women, but Divides Into ‘Haves’ and ‘Have Nots’ Too

*I Stock 1453985731 1920x1080 1 — Hundreds of hours of interviews with a wide range of members of a prison community allowed a UMD researcher to reveal an unprecedented account of the religious practices of incarcerated women.*

A subject treated as an afterthought in many studies of imprisonment—religion—and an incarcerated group often regarded as peripheral—women—are the core of a University of Maryland researcher’s groundbreaking new book on the deep spirituality that, perhaps not surprisingly, exists behind bars.

“When we think of ‘paying a debt to society,’ when we think about conviction, penitence, redemption—these are all religious terms,” said criminology and criminal justice Assistant Professor Rachel Ellis, whose [“In This Place Called Prison”](https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520384545/in-this-place-called-prison) was published this month by University of California Press.



*In This Place Called Prison book cover*




**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Books](https://today.umd.edu/topic/books), [Criminology and Criminal Justice](https://today.umd.edu/topic/criminology-and-criminal-justice), [Gender](https://today.umd.edu/topic/gender), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [College of Behavioral and Social Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-behavioral-and-social-sciences)