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PEW FORUM ON RELIGION & PUBLIC LIFE
www.pewforum.org
Preface
Religion and religious people have always been a presence in American prisons. Indeed, some
of the country’s first prisons were established at the urging of and with help from people of
faith, who hoped that inmates could be reformed during their confinement.
1
Today, religious people still play an important role in the U.S. criminal justice system. Almost
all of the nation’s more than 1,100 state and federal prisons have at least one paid chaplain or
religious services coordinator, and collectively they employ about 1,600 professional
chaplains.
2
These ministers, priests, imams, rabbis and religious lay people sit at the intersection of two
social trends. The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the developed world,
with approximately 2.3 million men and women – or about 1-in-100 of the nation’s adults –
behind bars.
3
The U.S. also stands out among industrial democracies for its high levels of
religious commitment, with about four-in-ten American adults saying they attend religious
services weekly or more often, nearly six-in-ten saying that religion is very important in their
lives and more than nine-in-ten saying they believe in God or a higher power.
4
The constitutional right of Americans to the free exercise of religion – even if they are behind
bars – has been affirmed by courts and bolstered by federal legislation, and the first duty of
prison chaplains is to help meet the religious needs of inmates. But, increasingly, chaplains are
asked to do much more. In the face of studies suggesting that more than 40% of former
inmates end up back in prison within a few years, chaplains in many prisons are called upon to
fight recidivism by counseling inmates and connecting them with religious organizations or
other social service providers that can offer job training, substance abuse treatment, education
and other assistance before and after their release.
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1
For an account of religion’s role in the early history of prisons in America, see Jennifer Graber, “The Furnace of Affliction: Prisons
and Religion in Antebellum America,” University of North Carolina Press, 2011.
2
In addition to state and federal prisons, the U.S. penal system also includes county and city jails that typically hold people
awaiting trial and those sentenced for misdemeanors to terms of one year or less. For more details on the prison system, see
Appendix C.
3
As of 2010, one in every 104 U.S. adults was in the custody of state or federal prisons or local jails, according to the U.S.
Department of Justice. See Lauren E. Glaze, “Correctional Population in the United States, 2010,” U.S. Department of Justice,
Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2011, http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/cpus10.pdf. See also “One in 100: Behind Bars in
America 2008,” Pew Center on the States, Public Safety Performance Project, February 2008,
http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/report_detail.aspx?id=35904.
4
For measures of religious commitment in the U.S., see “U.S. Religious Landscape Survey,” Pew Research Center’s Forum on
Religion & Public Life, 2007, http://religions.pewforum.org/reports. For measures of religious commitment in other countries, see
“Unfavorable Views of Jews and Muslims on the Increase in Europe,” Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, 2008,
http://www.pewglobal.org/2008/09/17/unfavorable-views-of-jews-and-muslims-on-the-increase-in-europe/.
5
See “State of Recidivism: The Revolving Door of America’s Prisons,” Pew Center on the States, Public Safety Performance
Project, 2011, http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/report_detail.aspx?id=85899358613.