Institutions schedule religious services and meeting times for inmates of many faiths. Religious programs are led or supervised by staff chaplains, contract spiritual leaders, and community volunteers. Chaplains oversee inmate self-improvement forums such as scripture study and religious workshops, and provide pastoral care, spiritual guidance, and counseling.Inmates can observe religious holy days and wear and use religious items consistent with their faith as long as this is consistent with policy and with the security, safety, and good order of the institution.
The BOP has implemented a new program called Life Connections Program at some institutions. The objectives of the program are to foster personal growth and responsibility and to right the relationships among the victim, the community, and in the inmate, using secular outcome-based objectives. The program will use the inmate’s personal belief system, whether secular or religious, to bring reconciliation and restoration. Participants will be helped to take responsibility for their criminal behavior. Groups in the community at the inmates’ release destinations will be asked to volunteer as support organization for inmate participants upon release. Inmates participating in this program will be housed together.