Religious literature is common.  Inmates are often allowed to have a Bible or Quran when they would not otherwise be allowed to have books in their possession, and religious volunteers will often bring religious books and pamphlets into prisons to give to inmates.  These same groups may also visit inmates on religious holidays, especially Christmas and Easter, to give inmates religious materials and small gifts like candy and toothpaste.  These efforts are, in my experience, appreciated by most inmates, including the nonreligious.  

Religions tension exists within prisons although, in my experience, most inmates take a “live and let live” approach to religion.  A more ornery nonreligious inmate may challenge the beliefs of a religious inmate, or vice versa, but physical fights over religion are rare, unless an inmate feels personally disrespected and thereby “forced” to take matters into their own hands.  Still, in a culture that so highly values interpersonal respect and minding one’s own business, religion is very rarely a flashpoint for arguments or violence.  That said, in that same Pew Research Center study, 44% of chaplains in maximum or medium security prisons reported that religious extremism is very or somewhat common, and that extremism at times led to problems such as  intolerance of certain racial or social groups, which could in turn lead to violence (Pew Research Center, 2024).

While most inmates identify as belonging to one religious group or another, about 11% of inmates identify as non-religious (Pew Research Center, 2024a).  These inmates may identify as atheist or agnostic, or they may simply lack religious conviction.  Largely lacking formalized “worship” practices, non-religious alternatives to worship, both formal and informal, are rare or nonexistent.  Interestingly, while approximately 1 in 100 unincarcerated Americans identify as atheists, only 1 in 1000 incarcerated individuals do the same (Chalabi, 2015). 

With religion being so prevalent and forming a core part of so many inmates’ and volunteers’ identities, the pressure to convert to a religion, especially Evangelical Christianity, is very high.  51% of chaplains reported that the number of inmates that identify as Muslim was growing within their prison, with 47% reporting the same for Evangelical Protestants, which suggests that jailhouse conversions are fairly common.  One wonders if this is due to the pressure to become religious that stems from both intentional attempts to convert prisoners (undertaken by chaplains, volunteers, and other inmates) and the high rate of religiosity in prison in general.  While I couldn’t find exact numbers, the Pew survey cited earlier found that “about three-quarters of chaplains say that attempts by inmates to proselytize or convert fellow inmates are “very” or “somewhat” common (73%), and a similar portion (77%) say that either “a lot” or “some” religious conversion takes place behind bars” (Pew Research Center, 2024).   Still, I’d be very interested to know the rate at which prison conversions last after release.  Are these conversions due to the specific pressures and challenges of life in prison, or do they represent true, lifelong change in spiritual beliefs and practices?  Unfortunately, there is little if any data regarding the rate at which prisoners who undergo religious conversion in prison remain affiliated with that religion post-release (Jailhouse Religion, Spiritual Transformation, and Long-Term Change – Sagamore, n.d.).