Pubdate: Sat, 03 Jun 2006
Source: Des Moines Register (IA)
Copyright: 2006 The Des Moines Register.
Contact:  http://desmoinesregister.com/index.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/123
Author: William Petroski

JUDGE SAYS CHRISTIAN PRISON PROGRAM MUST END

InnerChange Freedom Initiative Will Continue At The Correctional 
Center In Newton During An Appeal

A faith-based Iowa prison treatment program in which inmates immerse 
themselves in evangelical Christianity is unconstitutional and must 
be shut down, a federal judge said Friday.

U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt of Des Moines, in a 140-page ruling 
with national implications, said the Innerchange Freedom Initiative 
at the Newton Correctional Facility violates the First Amendment's 
clause barring government from the establishment of religion.

Pratt said the Iowa Department of Corrections must close the program 
within 60 days, and $1.5 million in contract payments must be 
returned to state officials. However, those orders will be suspended 
while an appeal is pending, the judge said.

The InnerChange program has operated at the Newton state prison since 
October 1999, sponsored by Prison Fellowship Ministries. About 210 
inmates spend their days in education, counseling and work, with a 
heavy emphasis on Bible teachings.

Prison Fellowship contended the program was voluntary and it had the 
secular benefits of improving inmate behavior, reducing recidivism 
and protecting public safety.

The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for 
Separation of Church and State, praised the decision. His 
organization, based in Washington, D.C., had sued on behalf of some 
inmates and Iowa taxpayers, contending the program unconstitutionally 
represents a merger of state and religion.

"We are absolutely delighted that the court found significant 
constitutional defects in a government-funded prison program that 
involves religious proselytizing or religious evangelism," Lynn said 
Friday. "If the reasoning in this case is followed elsewhere, and I 
suspect that it will be, it will pose an enormous challenge to 
faith-based programs at the state and federal level in many kinds of 
institutions."

The case has received national media attention as a test of President 
Bush's push for faith-based government services, ranging from social 
service agencies to after-school child care. Similar programs are 
sponsored by Prison Fellowship Ministries at prisons in Texas, 
Minnesota, Kansas and Arkansas.

Former Virginia Attorney General Mark Earley, president and chief 
executive of Prison Fellowship Ministries, said his organization will 
file an appeal next week with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals 
in St. Louis.

The InnerChange program will continue at Newton while the appeal is 
pending, he added.

"I think it is a shame that the court has ruled against one of the 
few programs that have been demonstrated to offer real hope for 
stemming the tide of habitual crime," Earley said. "At the same time, 
the decision today, while disappointing, illuminates the course that 
has to be taken to safeguard religious liberty; in this case, the 
religious liberty of inmates and their opportunity to choose to 
transform their lives by their faith-based choice."

The Iowa attorney general's office, which defended state prison 
officials during the 14-day trial in Des Moines late last year, will 
be reviewing the decision over the next few days, said spokesman 
Robert Brammer.

Pratt's ruling said that for all practical purposes, the state had 
"literally established an Evangelical Christian congregation within 
the walls of one of its penal institutions." The Newton program gives 
InnerChange employees "authority to control the spiritual, emotional 
and physical lives of hundreds of Iowa inmates."

The judge said there are no adequate safeguards present, nor could 
there be, to ensure that state money is not being directly spent to 
indoctrinate Iowa inmates.

The state, through its direct funding of InnerChange, hopes to cure 
recidivism through state-sponsored prayer and devotion, Pratt added.

"While such spiritual and emotional 'rewiring' may be possible in the 
life of an individual and lower the risk of committing other crimes, 
it cannot be permissible to force taxpayers to fund such an 
enterprise under the Establishment Clause," he wrote.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman