In 2013 a report was released by the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons.The report looks at all the federally run prisons in the U.S. — that makes up about 218,000 prisoners — and the inmates’ religious affiliations. When they say that less than one percent identify as atheist, they actually mean 0.07 percent. That’s right, 0.07 percent. That is way less than one percent.
In reality, that number could be even lower. Seeing as how 17 percent don’t identify with any religious preference, this could mean more don’t believe in God(s) but choose not to identify as atheist. At the very least, they do not identify with any of the world’s major religions.
So how can this be? When the religious right is constantly claiming a moral authority in this country, how can it be that they make up more than half (the report shows 28.7 percent identify as Protestant and 24 percent Catholic) of the prison population?