NCJ Number
115624
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 51 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1989) Pages: 52,82,84,86
Date Published
1989
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Because freedom of religion is constitutionally guaranteed, inmates are given an opportunity to participate in worship, religious study, and/or counseling with correctional chaplains.
Abstract
Correctional chaplains represent a broad array of theological training, pastoral experience, and religious affiliations. While chaplaincy services often are given low priority by the correctional system and may be viewed with distrust by staff, often they are able to do much good for inmates. Chaplains are primarily concerned with the redemptive potential of every human being regardless of his or her past or current spiritual condition. The chaplain's task is to provide pastoral care to inmates, a process that might well be termed spiritual therapy. The process of rehabilitation involves a change in attitudes and behaviors from negative and destructive to positive and constructive -- in religious terms, a conversion. It is this conversion that is the primary thrust of pastoral care in all its manifestations. As part of the spiritual therapeutic process, correctional chaplains provide inmates with opportunities for worship, bible study, and counseling. The chaplain serves as preacher, listener, spiritual diagnostician and director, confessor, teacher, and advocate. In these roles he or she fulfills an important rehabilitative role. 5 photographs.