One of the reasons why prisons are such daunting places is that they are complicated and closed social systems. Another difficulty for researchers is that even within the highly centralised prison system of England and Wales the variety of prison establishments is so wide that it almost defies any attempt to make general statements about them. The pace of change in prison policies and practices is also so rapid that descriptions of prison life run the risk of being out of date before they are published. Nevertheless, our book argues that at least one structural feature of prisons in England and Wales is relatively unaffected by the differences between establishments and by the hectic pace of change. This is the chaplaincy service which is responsible for providing religious and pastoral care to inmates and staff alike.

More than 500 religious professionals, lay workers and volunteers from various religious traditions deliver religious and pastoral care on a daily basis in every one of the more than 130 prisons in England and Wales. And, although these chaplaincy workers have undoubtedly been buffeted by the winds of change in prisons, their structural position in the social system of prisons has not changed drastically since the mid-1980s. On the other hand, significant changes have taken place in the inmate population. For example, while the size of the prison population has increased dramatically since the early 1980s, the proportion of prisoners registering as members of the main Christian churches has declined sharply.