I am in prison or I know someone in prison and they want to practice Satanism. Can the Church of Satan help me?

Satanism is a law and order philosophy and in general we think that too often people have not received punishment that fits in kind and degree their crimes. But we also understand that people can be wrongly convicted based on false or mistaken testimony and that it might take years for exoneration to come—if ever.

We do not allow Active Membership to convicted felons, particularly if the crime shows a violation of Satanic principles for social behavior. If a Church of Satan member is convicted of a felony it should be understood that membership is automatically terminated, more so if the crime is one that breaks basic tenets of Satanism.

Since we do not proselytize, we do not offer any form of ministry or free literature to incarcerated individuals. Just because someone claims to be a Satanist does not mean that they actually have grasped and practice the philosophy of the Church of Satan founded by Anton Szandor LaVey, so we have no obligations towards someone simply because they consider themselves to be Satanists. We have often seen devil worshippers in prison who try to seek the ability to ritualize while claiming they are Satanists and this is confusing to prison chaplains and other authorities. To deal with this issue, we have crafted basic information for prison authorities defining the Church of Satan and outlining possible requirements for genuine Satanists who are incarcerated so that their rights can be handled in a manner equivalent to that of other prisoners who claim to hold beliefs in unusual religions.

If you are a prisoner or you know someone who is and the Satanism of the Church of Satan is the philosophy in question, you may visit this web site and read or download and print a PDF file which can be delivered to the prison authorities so that they can understand the actual issues which should be addressed for a Satanist who is incarcerated.