Religious Assistance in the Mozambican Penal Enforcement System: Religious Freedom, State Secularism, and Normative Challenges

Abstract

This study examines religious assistance within the Mozambican penal enforcement system, analyzing it both as a fundamental right of persons deprived of liberty and as a potential mechanism supporting social reintegration. It asks to what extent the absence of specific regulation and the persistence of outdated legal provisions undermine the effectiveness of this right within the prison system and which normative parameters may reconcile it with the principle of state secularism.   An interpretive and abductive methodological approach is adopted, based on documentary analysis of applicable national and international legal frameworks, as well as a review of specialized literature. The study advances the hypothesis that the effectiveness of religious assistance depends on the existence of clear normative guidelines, state oversight mechanisms, and respect for the principle of state secularism. The findings indicate that, although religious assistance may contribute to reintegration, its implementation remains constrained by normative gaps, institutional weaknesses, and unequal access among religious denominations. The study concludes that freedom of religion, as an individual fundamental right, must be distinguished from the institutional use of religion as a social reintegration mechanism, whose legitimacy depends on normative regulation, state supervision, and respect for secularism.