In the eons preceding March 29, whenever a prisoner was admitted to a North Carolina State prison, he or she was automatically classified as a Protestant Christian. To be classified as anything else the prisoner had to submit a request to the chaplaincy department, and such a request was subject to denial, depending on whether the chaplaincy wanted to recognize it as a religion. Despite all the available recognized religions (Islam, Buddhism, Rastafarianism, and so on) humanism or atheism were not options. To declare any nontheistic identity was against strict prison policy. As a direct result, nontheists were not allowed to meet in study groups or observe nontheistic holidays, and some nontheistic literature was banned from the prison system altogether. We nontheists had to practice our beliefs in secret or be subject to disciplinary action.