Locking Down Prison Ministry?
- Feb 12, 2007 - comment
Chris Ganfield was once a young, drug-addicted prison inmate facing a fifty-year sentence but is now a husband, father, and facility manager of a faith-based camp that ministers to children who have suffered neglect, abuse, and poverty.
What happened? Ganfield cried out to God for help while in prison and applied to participate in the InnerChange Freedom Initiative, a faith-based rehabilitation program offered in his Iowa prison. He says that during his time in IFI, “Christ began transforming me in new and wonderful ways.”
But prison ministries and other faith-based programs are watching carefully as an appeals court prepares to decide if the InnerChange Freedom Initiative is unconstitutional.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed the suit on the grounds that the faith-based program violates the separation of church and state, and a judge agreed in a June 2006 decision. Barry Lynn, the group’s executive director, said, “Inmates should have access to effective rehabilitation programs that prepare them fore life outside prison, no matter what religion they subscribe to.”
The program is completely voluntary, however. The Weekly Standard reported: “No one was required to participate in their activities. Even after inmates had chosen to participate, they remained free to leave the program and return to the usual prison routine. Inmates who chose to participate were not required to convert to Christianity. They were told from the outset what the expectations and content of the program were. And every inmate who testified at the Iowa trial said he was promised nothing by the prison authorities for enrolling in IFI. Each testified that it was his personal choice to participate—uncoerced and unbribed.”
According to the IFI Web site, the program is “anchored in biblical teaching that stresses personal responsibility, the value of education and work, care of persons and property and the reality of a new life in Christ.”
Prison Fellowship president Mark Early described it as a “highly structured, intensive program that offers character education, community service, pre-release training, and mentoring by community volunteers on the outside.” Studies have shown that the program reduces recidivism.
If not overturned, Judge Robert Pratt’s decision has the potential to impact faith-based programs in other prison systems, as well as any faith-based organizations that accept public money to perform a service in the public sector. Examples include drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, homeless shelters, food pantries, and others.
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission supports the right of prisoners to participate in faith-based programs when they are available. “Society has an expectation that during incarceration inmates not only will be punished for their wrongdoing, but also will be rehabilitated in a way that prepares them to be productive, law-abiding citizens upon their release,” said Dr. Richard Land, ERLC president.
“The high rates of recidivism within the prison population are proof that the majority of traditional rehab programs are not working. Evidence abounds, however, that faith-based programs that appeal to an individual’s heart are effective. It is true that while the ‘salt’ of the law may well change habits, only the Light of the Gospel will truly change hearts. While we certainly would oppose prisoners being coerced into the InnerChange Freedom Initiative or any other faith-based program, we strongly support it as a voluntary option.”
Prison Fellowship began IFI in 1997, and it has operated as a separate but affiliated organization since 1999. IFI has programs in Iowa, Texas, Kansas, Minnesota, and Arkansas.
The appeal of the judgment shutting the InnerChange Freedom Initiative out of Iowa prisons will be heard on Tuesday, February 13, 2007, in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.
Further Learning
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