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<p>The Prison Act 1952 enshrines in law the statutory duties of a prison chaplain.
These tasks, which must be undertaken daily, are incorporated into Prison Rules and
Young Offender Rules. They are explained in detail in Prison Service Instruction 05/2016
Faith and Pastoral Care for Prisoners.</p><p>We recognise and respect the right of
prisoners to register and practice their faith while serving their prison sentence.
Chaplaincy plays a critical and unique role in the work of prisons and life of prisoners.
It provides not only faith advice but pastoral care in support of HM Prison and Probation
Service’s commitments to decency, safety and rehabilitation.</p><p>A breakdown of
prisoner population by religion is provided in the quarterly Offender Management statistics
publication on GOV.UK. The latest publication can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2018"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2018</a>.
The relevant extract of those statistics is provided in the following table:</p><table><tbody><tr><td
colspan="7"><p><strong><em>Table 1.5: Prison population by religion and sex</em></strong></p></td></tr><tr><td
colspan="7"><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>31-Mar-18</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>30-Jun-18</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>30-Sep-18</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>31-Dec-18</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>31-Mar-19</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Percentage
change March 2018 to 2019</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Males and Females</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>83,263</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>82,773</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>83,005</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>82,236</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>82,634</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>-1%</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>All
Christian</p></td><td><p>39,839</p></td><td><p>39,541</p></td><td><p>39,784</p></td><td><p>39,293</p></td><td><p>39,515</p></td><td><p>-1%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><em>Anglican</em></p></td><td><p><em>13,971</em></p></td><td><p><em>13,808</em></p></td><td><p><em>13,755</em></p></td><td><p><em>13,496</em></p></td><td><p><em>13,480</em></p></td><td><p><em>-4%</em></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><em>Free
Church</em></p></td><td><p><em>776</em></p></td><td><p><em>764</em></p></td><td><p><em>782</em></p></td><td><p><em>758</em></p></td><td><p><em>737</em></p></td><td><p><em>-5%</em></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><em>Roman
Catholic</em></p></td><td><p><em>14,334</em></p></td><td><p><em>14,277</em></p></td><td><p><em>14,246</em></p></td><td><p><em>14,094</em></p></td><td><p><em>14,160</em></p></td><td><p><em>-1%</em></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><em>Other
Christian</em></p></td><td><p><em>10,758</em></p></td><td><p><em>10,692</em></p></td><td><p><em>11,001</em></p></td><td><p><em>10,945</em></p></td><td><p><em>11,138</em></p></td><td><p><em>
4%</em></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Muslim</p></td><td><p>12,847</p></td><td><p>12,894</p></td><td><p>12,868</p></td><td><p>12,894</p></td><td><p>13,008</p></td><td><p>1%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Hindu</p></td><td><p>379</p></td><td><p>354</p></td><td><p>350</p></td><td><p>361</p></td><td><p>343</p></td><td><p>-9%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sikh</p></td><td><p>625</p></td><td><p>632</p></td><td><p>634</p></td><td><p>638</p></td><td><p>611</p></td><td><p>-2%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Buddhist</p></td><td><p>1,517</p></td><td><p>1,518</p></td><td><p>1,569</p></td><td><p>1,575</p></td><td><p>1,619</p></td><td><p>7%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jewish</p></td><td><p>480</p></td><td><p>488</p></td><td><p>477</p></td><td><p>482</p></td><td><p>477</p></td><td><p>-1%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Other
religious group</p></td><td><p>1,724</p></td><td><p>1,777</p></td><td><p>1,782</p></td><td><p>1,838</p></td><td><p>1,876</p></td><td><p>9%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Non
recognised</p></td><td><p>10</p></td><td><p>11</p></td><td><p>12</p></td><td><p>6</p></td><td><p>7</p></td><td><p>**</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>No
religion</p></td><td><p>25,711</p></td><td><p>25,393</p></td><td><p>25,413</p></td><td><p>25,053</p></td><td><p>25,034</p></td><td><p>-3%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Not
recorded</p></td><td><p>131</p></td><td><p>165</p></td><td><p>116</p></td><td><p>96</p></td><td><p>144</p></td><td><p>10%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>
</p><p>Chaplains may work on a full-time, part-time, sessional or voluntary basis.
A breakdown of Chaplains in employed in prisons and by faith, is provided below.</p><p><strong>Number
of chaplains (headcount) employed by HM Prison and Probation Service<sup>1</sup>,
as at 31 March 2019.</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>Headcount</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Prison
Service establishments</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Religion</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number
of chaplains</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Christian</p></td><td><p>242</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>
</p></td><td><p>Muslim</p></td><td><p>118</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Sikh</p></td><td><p>12</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>
</p></td><td><p>Hindu</p></td><td><p>3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Unknown<strong><sup>2</sup></strong></p></td><td><p>99</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Total</p></td><td><p>
</p></td><td><p>474</p></td></tr></tbody></table><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Notes
to Table</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="3" rowspan="3"><p><ol><li>A substantial
amount of Chaplaincy services within the public sector Prison Service are provided
by non-employed staff on a sessional basis, which are not included in the figures
presented in this table. Chaplains fill roles in bands 5 and 7 or above under the
Fair and Sustainable structures.</li><li>These are mostly managing Chaplains where
the religion of the post is not specified.</li><li>Only includes chaplains working
in prisons and therefore will not match published data which includes Chaplains who
work in other areas of HMPPS, such as at Headquarters.</li></ol></p></td></tr><tr><td
colspan="3"><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="3"><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="3"
rowspan="3"><p>Information on the private estate is not held centrally. The total
number of chaplain staff since 2010 can be found in the HMPPS Workforce Statistics
Bulletin. The latest publication on the number of Chaplains can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hm-prison-and-probation-service-workforce-quarterly-march-2019"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hm-prison-and-probation-service-workforce-quarterly-march-2019</a>
Information on the religious affiliation of chaplains is not published.</p></td></tr></tbody></table>
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