Matthew Denney is a political scientist who studies race, religion, and politics in the United States. He is working on a book project that examines the response of Black faith communities to race and policing in America as an avenue for contesting racial inequality. This research draws on interviews, focus groups, participant observation, quantitative analysis, and historical-archival research. He has also written on the historical development of policing, the effects of college-in-prison, and COVID-19 in detention centers and prisons. His work has appeared in Studies in American Political Development, Justice Quarterly, and the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law. He also has current projects on housing organizing and evangelical churches in America (with Hahrie Han). Matt received his PhD in political science from Yale University in 2023.