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Religious affiliation of inmates in U.S. prisons, 2011

Mean religious affiliation of inmates in U.S. prisons, as reported by prison chaplains in 2011

The data displays U.S. prison chaplains estimations of the percentage of inmates belonging to different organized faiths and religions as of 2011. Chaplains surveyed reported that on average 50.6% of inmates were of protestant faiths.

Additional information on religion in United States prisons The religious affiliation of inmates in the U.S., the country with most prisoners per head globally, is reasonably similar to the religious affiliations of the society overall. That said, the proportion of non-religious inmates and those declining to express their religious affiliation is smaller than the overall proportion.

Protestant 50.6
Catholic 14.5
No religious preference 10.6
Muslim 9.4
Unknown 5
Native American spirituality 2.7
Jewish 1.7
Pagan/earth-based 1.7
Other non-christian religions 1.5
Buddhist 0.9
Mormon 0.8
Orthodox Christian 0.4
Hindu 0.2