Security and Institutional Management

Chaplaincy Services

(904) 488-9865
SUNCOM 278-9865

Chaplaincy Services provides pastoral care to inmates, staff and their families; assisting offenders in their response to the realities of their actions prior to, during, and after incarceration; assisting offenders in discovering religious faith, or in developing their personal faith, and by working in partnership with the community to accomplish mutually beneficial results. Chaplains function on two levels: as representatives of an ultimate power in a decidedly secular setting; and to provide concrete servicescounseling, managing volunteers, conducting services, meeting with community groups, and administering programs to support those whose actions have cut them off from the mainstream of society.

Accomplishments in 1995-96:

• Implemented an operational plan to increase inmate participation in religious activities, including: developing a religious guidebook and new chaplaincy manual; revising the holiday calendar; developing training curriculums for basic and advanced training for all chaplains;
• Initiated a Starting Line/Prison Fellowship program in Florida, scheduled to begin March 1997 as a regionally contained event to increase inmate participation in religious activity.
• Recorded approximately 614,000* (Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, other faiths) attendance at worship services and religious events, approximately 362,000 participants in religious studies programs, and trained and supervised approximately 3,300 citizen volunteers.

* All annual totals are based on monthly, cumulative figures.