The Role of the Contemporary Prison Chaplain

Abstract

This research addresses an oversight in the literature on correctional employees by exploring the role of prison chaplains. Based on a national sample of 232 chaplains, it was discovered that prison ministers perform a wide range of secular and religious tasks including counseling inmates, coordinating religious programs, paperwork, supervising volunteers, and conducting religious services. Furthermore, we learned that although chaplains believe that their main purpose is to serve inmates, the majority of chaplains also identified with the prison's custodial objectives. Finally, we found that chaplains' experiences of role problems varied by their individual characteristics and, to a greater extent, by whether they had supportive supervisors.

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