Paper Profiles Faith-Based Prison Programs

USA Today this week end looks in-depth at faith-based prison facilities. While concluding that it is unclear whether the programs reduce recidivism, the article reports positively on the impact they have on individual prisoners who, for the first time, feel they are being treated with respect:

[E]vidence is strong that violence and trouble-making drop sharply in these programs, and they often are the only vibrant rehabilitation option at a time when taxpayer-funded alternatives have been cut back.

Elizabeth Alexander, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project, has qualms about whether the faith-based programs are fair to non-Christian inmates but hesitates to criticize them because they fill a void. Two decades of tough-on-crime policies have sharply reduced the number of rehabilitative prison programs, she said, and volunteer-driven religious initiatives offer states a low-cost way to meet some of the demand.

A federal district court decision in Iowa finding state support for InnerChange's faith-based prison program unconstitutional is now on appeal. (See prior posting.)