A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, in St. Louis ruled yesterday that a state-financed evangelical Christian program to help prisoners re-enter civilian life fostered religious indoctrination and violated the constitutional separation of church and state.
The current case was filed more than four years ago by Americans United for Separation of Church and State against the InnerChange Freedom Initiative, an organization affiliated with the Prison Fellowship Ministries and the Iowa Corrections Department. Prison Fellowship Ministries was founded by Charles W. Colson, an ally of President Bush and an influential evangelical who went to prison for his role in the Watergate cover-up in the Nixon administration.
“The decision casts a long, deep shadow over faith-based programs in states, and even at the federal level,†said Barry W. Lynn, executive director of the church-state organization.
The group challenged the InnerChange program at a medium-security prison in Newton, Iowa, that has 104 inmates enrolled in it. In its decision, the appeals court quoted an InnerChange brochure describing the program as a “24-hour-a-day, Christ-centered, biblically based program that promotes personal transformation of prisoners through the power of the Gospel.â€
Baptist Hospital has Pathways for Change, an 18-month program that teaches skills such as self-esteem and conflict resolution in faith-based context, that is active in the Escambia County Jail. It’s too early to say whether this court ruling jeopardizes the Pathways program.