Ministry Fights District Court Ruling Against Faith-Based Prison Program
by Allie Martin and Jenni Parker
August 8, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Prison Fellowship will appeal a recent court ruling that ordered the shutdown of its faith-based InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI) program in Iowa. In its ten years of operation, IFI has helped bring about a drastic reduction in the number of former inmates returning to prison; but liberal opponents sued, claiming the Christ-centered prison outreach violated the so-called separation of church and state. The comprehensive, faith-based prisoner "Reentry Program" known as IFI was founded by Prison Fellowship in 1997 and now exists as a separate organization. The program's mission, according to IFI's website, is to create and maintain prison environments that foster respect for God's law and for the rights of others and to encourage inmates' moral and spiritual regeneration. The vast majority of IFI's funding is from private sources.
Through InnerChange, prisoners are provided with faith-based counseling for two years before their release, then for another year after they return to society, thus enhancing prison security and protecting the public as well. Iowa state officials have testified to the effectiveness of the program, noting that IFI has significantly lowered prisoner recidivism rates. Nevertheless, on June 2 of this year, Judge Robert Pratt of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa agreed with the plaintiff, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, that the faith-based prison program is unconstitutional.
Judge Pratt ruled that faith-based IFI does violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, and he ordered the program shut down within 60 days. After this decision was handed down, IFI and Prison Fellowship retained the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty to lead an appeal of the ruling before a federal appellate court.
Prison Fellowship's president, Mark Earley, says the District Court's order has meanwhile been stayed pending appeal. And pursuing this appeal is important, he asserts, not only for the sake of this particular organization's ministry in that state but also for the sake of faith-based prison outreaches like it across America.
"The significance of this case is that the judge ruled that even if this program in Iowa was fully supported by private funds, he didn't feel it could be constitutional," Earley explains. "If that ruling is allowed to stand, it not only has implications for what Prison Fellowship and InnerChange Freedom Initiative do, but it affects every ministry that seeks to minister, as in this case, to adults who have volunteered to receive services that are somehow in the public sector."
The District Court's decision represents the mindset of many in the judiciary who are hostile to Christianity, the Prison Fellowship official asserts. He says Judge Pratt "took it upon himself to define evangelicals" and "said any evangelical by definition has to be trying to convert someone whenever they say something or whenever they do something."
According to the judge's thinking, Early contends, "an evangelical ... as he defines it, can't do anything in a government setting because, by definition, they are trying to convert. So it's a really, really bad case for a lot of different reasons."
On July 19, attorneys for the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty filed a Notice of Appearance before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in the case of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State v. Prison Fellowship Ministries. Becket Fund spokesman and legal counsel Jared N. Leland says his group will pursue litigation through the appellate system to protect IFI and programs like it.
"Religion is quite often at the root of rehabilitation," Leland says. "Recognizing this reality, IFI creates an atmosphere in which inmates can turn from crime, change their lives, and reenter society as a healthier contributor to the community." State prison systems, he adds, should be not only permitted but encouraged to provide inmates with such rehabilitative programs.
A spokesman for the Becket Fund says the organization is confident the appellate court will overturn the earlier District Court ruling in the case, thereby enabling InnerChange Freedom Initiative and Prison Fellowship to continue prison ministry in Iowa and elsewhere.
