This article was offered to us by a Pagan Chaplain working within the UK prison system. It is published here with permission.
Prison Chaplaincy is a unique and rewarding place to work. No two days are ever the same. As Chaplains it is our job to provide pastoral, spiritual and faith support in one of the most challenging and extreme environments we can ever face as human beings. There are currently about twenty Pagan Prison Chaplains covering around sixty-five prisons in England and Wales, meaning that about half of prisons currently do not have the support of a Pagan Chaplain.
I am fortunate to be the Managing Chaplain at HMP Birmingham. I manage a team of around twenty-five Chaplains and volunteers that cover a diverse mix of faith and belief traditions, including those of no faith. One of the areas that I have always been passionate about is getting faith communities more involved in the work of prison chaplaincy. This is why our chaplaincies vision is “Community Inside, Community Outside.”
I see this as having two parts. The first, ‘Community Inside’ looks to encourage local faith groups to visit our prison and support those in custody, leading worship and facilitating courses or workshops. This works well with our Christian communities, where different local churches come in and leads worship on the 5th Sunday in the month, where there is one. It gives outside communities’ opportunity to meet with prisoners and see that they are people who at some point in time have made a mistake or bad decision, and it reminds our prisoners that there is a community out there that cares about them and wants to welcome them back. At HMP Birmingham we have been encouraging local Moots, Hearths, Groves and Covens to volunteer to join us to show support to our pagan community, joining in for festival celebrations and to provide contact with vast diversity of experiences that make up contemporary paganism, unfortunately we have not been very successful with this to date.
The second meaning is ‘Community Outside’, how we as a wider Pagan community support the reintegration of prisoners upon release. I have been working in my role as a Managing Chaplain for many years to encourage faith communities to sign up to The Welcome Directory (https://www.welcomedirectory.org.uk/). TWD is an organisation that works with faith groups to support them in welcoming prisoners on release. TWD provides training on safeguarding and ongoing support for organisations. To date there have only been a handful of pagan groups that have signed up to the directory.
There are currently around 1200 Pagans in prisons across England and Wales. The only thing we can guarantee is that these people will one day be released. They may come to join your Moots, Hearths, Groves and Covens. I would ask you to work with us and support prison leavers and help us make this transition as safe as possible. If we can provide support and safeguarding along with Probation, this can only be a positive thing, and lead to successful continuity of care and support for the prison leaver.
Recently I was able to attend a celebration event for Prison Chaplaincy held at Wormwood Scrubs, with guest speakers of Lord James Timpson, Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, and The Venerable James Ridge, Chaplain General. As the Volunteer of the Year Awards were being presented, it was clear to the pagan chaplains in the room that we had no pagan volunteers supporting our inside communities. Whilst it was joyful to hear the stories of the winners and celebrate their achievements, next year I’d like some of the awards to go to the recognition of pagan volunteers!
Things you can do next:
Things to Read:
Inside Time: pagans in jails: 1,000 Pagans in UK jails – insidetime & insideinformation
Things to Do:
Have a discussion within your Grove, Hearth, Moot or Coven members about the work of Pagan Chaplains in prisons. How do you feel about Pagans in prison, or those released from prison after completing their sentence? Keep in mind that you many already have prison leavers amongst your members.
Decide if you’d like your group to be listed in the Welcome Directory as a safe and welcoming place for those released to attend. If so, contact the Directory and get yourself listed!
Contact your local prison’s Managing Chaplain and ask about volunteering opportunities for yourself or your group, we’d love to host you for a festival or learning sessions. This could be a one-off visit, or a regular arrangement.
Keep an eye out for recruitment possibilities for contracted Pagan Chaplain posts. Directly employed Prison Chaplains that meet civil service criteria are currently paid around £36,000 -£43,700 pro rata, however many Pagan Chaplains work part time or are employed on a sessional basis.
Article written and published in January 2025