One IFI speaker attacked evolution. Participants were told that being gay is a sin. Men serving hard time behind bars were assured that, upon their release, they could go home confident that the Bible ordains them to run their households.
A week from today, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in an Americans United-sponsored case challenging tax funding of Prison Fellowship’s “InnerChange Freedom Initiative” (IFI) for inmates in Iowa.The case is receiving heightened scrutiny because of a surprise development: Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will sit on the three-judge panel that will hear the case.
As the argument approaches, IFI and its Religious Right backers have fired up a well-oiled propaganda machine, desperately trying to use the media to re-litigate a case they lost at the first court level. (Prison Fellowship was founded by prominent Religious Right leader Charles Colson, and the ministry has an annual income of $55 million.)
A pro-IFI press released issued over newswires today is typical. It calls InnerChange “a comprehensive, faith-based pre-release program for prisoners” and celebrates its “dramatic results in changing the lives of hardened criminals and stopping the revolving door of crime.”
Sounds harmless, right? But as usual, the Religious Right isn’t telling the whole story. At the U.S. District Court, AU attorneys proved beyond a doubt that InnerChange is anchored in evangelical Christianity. The program revolves around an inmate’s willingness to embrace this version of faith, and this narrow religious perspective saturates the program. Other denominations and religions are disparaged.
Along with this comes the usual fundamentalist baggage related to social policy. One IFI speaker attacked evolution. Participants were told that being gay is a sin. Men serving hard time behind bars were assured that, upon their release, they could go home confident that the Bible ordains them to run their households.
Worse yet, the men taking part in this highly sectarian program at Newton Correctional Facility were given desirable perks that other inmates did not got – cells with private bathrooms, keys to their cells, generous access to computers and musical instruments and, perhaps most importantly, the ability to take part in an accelerated program that often led to parole.
As for IFI’s claims of amazing success with inmates, they are illusionary. A study commissioned by Prison Fellowship seemed to show IFI graduates returning to prison at a lower rate than other inmates. It was soon revealed that the data had been cooked. In fact, when all enrollees were considered, IFI participants ended up back in prison at a slightly higher rate than those who had not been through the program.
Prison inmates have the right to take part in religion, and certainly faith can play a role in rehabilitation. No one disputes the role of volunteer chaplains in prison. But IFI and its supporters are essentially running a fundamentalist conversion program on the taxpayer’s dime. They have no right to expect everyone to foot the bill for the propagation of their fundamentalist faith through a public institution.
The IFI clearly violates the Constitution, and it should be shut down.
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