More than 80% of Russian prisoners call themselves believers

According to the survey, 84.4% of Russian prisoners consider themselves believers, and 76% of them declare their belonging to the Orthodox faith, the Interfax-religion portal reports , citing the press service of the Federal Penitentiary Service. In 2005, these figures were 70.4% and 62.4%, respectively.

55.6% of prisoners attend services monthly, about 20% once a week, and about 4% every day.

"A significant part of the surveyed convicts - about 21% believe that thanks to coming to faith, they experienced a reassessment of values. Almost half of the convicts found peace of mind, and about 20% discovered the meaning of life," Interfax quotes a message from the press service of the Federal Penitentiary Service .

As noted in a press release, at present there are 436 churches and 741 prayer rooms in the institutions of the penitentiary system (in 1999, 272 and 561, respectively).

Sources

• About 85% of Russian prisoners consider themselves believers - Federal Penitentiary Service (updated version) // Interfax-religion. 2007. October 29.