Details

Chaplaincy Services distributed a measuring tool and required that Chaplains use the tool to record inmate participation over a three-month trial period. Only sign-in religious activities were measured. Chaplaincy Services programs also include activities that do not utilize a sign-in of inmates. These include chaplain rounds to inmate housing or work locations, crisis messages and large activities held outside of the Chapel area in the open yard. This report only refers to those activities where a sign-in sheet is used. This is the majority of religious programs and activities. Not all of the 52 FDC institutions were able to participate due to a variety of reasons. Reasons for no information include:

• Vacant positions of either a Chaplain to collect the attendance figures or a Clerk/Typist to enter the figures.
• Institutions where the Chaplains do not have access to the LAN and consequently could not submit the reports in a timely manner for inclusion.
• Many of the work camps attached to the institutions were unavailable for measurement. Though work camps do have regularly scheduled religious activities, volunteers conduct most of these and inmate sign-in sheets are not used or were not available for this report.

With these stipulations, the numbers in the CPR reflect reports from the following institutions:

Apalachee CI, EU,WU	Avon Park CI,WC	Baker CI
Brevard CI	Broward CI	Calhoun CI
Century CI	Charlotte CI	Columbia CI
Cross City CI	Dade CI, Annex	Everglades CI
Florida State Prison	Gainesville CI, WC	Glades CI
Gulf CI,MU, Anx	Hamilton CI., Anx	Hernando CI
Hillsborough CI	Holmes CI. WC	Indian River CI
Jackson CI	Jefferson CI	Lancaster MU, WU
Lawtey CI	Liberty CI, Quincy Anx	Lowell CI
Marion CI	Martin CI	Mayo CI, WC
New River E, W	NFRC MU, WU	Okaloosa CI
Okeechobee CI	Polk C.I.	Putnam C.I.
River Junction	Santa Rosa C.I.	SFRC
Sumter C.I.	Tomoka CI,WC	Union CI
Wakulla CI	Walton CI,WC	Washington CI
Zephyrhills CI

During the measurement period the total average inmate population for the FDC was 72,157. The figures from this report are drawn from the average of 50,026 inmates in the institutions that were in open population and able to attend religious activities at major institutions. The other 22,131 inmates were in AC, CM, DC, PM, or work release and were ineligible to participate or unavailable for measurement.

Of the total number of inmates that were able to participate (50,026) in a sign-in religious activity, 38,121 inmates or 76% were measured for attendance at religious activities. 14,609 inmates (38% of 38,121) attended a religious activity at least one time. The total participation rate at all of the measured institutions for the three-month study of July through September 2001 is 38%.

When female and youthful offender institutions are separated from the total and compared to the total, they have a higher than Statewide average with a participation rate of 59% for the same measurement period. Institutions with a chaplain to inmate ratio of one chaplain to five hundred or less inmates had the highest participation rate of 66% for the three-month period.

Chart 1 is a breakdown of the total inmate population between those who were eligible to attend religious services or activities and those who were not. Due to the dynamic nature of the population, a fixed point of measurement was used with the understanding that though this is the exact number for a specific day, it also represents a typical number for any given day during the three month measurement period. This number is derived by averaging over the three-month period the population on the last day of each month. In Chart 1, the combination of 22,131 and 50,026 reflects the entire inmate population in custody (72,157).

The larger number (50,026) represents the number of inmates that were able to attend a religious program or activity. The smaller number (22,131) includes inmates that were in Close Management, Protective Management, Administrative Confinement, or Disciplinary Confinement on the day in which the numbers were taken. Additionally, inmates in work release were not counted. Work camp statistics were not consistent, thus only those inmates in the work camps previously listed were counted.