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Brief Challenges $1.5M Ruling Against Iowa Prison Fellowship
VALUES-BASED PRISON PROGRAM FILES APPEAL OF FEDERAL JUDGE’S RULING DENYING FAITH’S ROLE IN PRISONER REHAB
InnerChange Freedom Initiative & Prison Fellowship Battle Shutdown of Effective Program that Reduces Recidivism, Enhances Public Safety, & Cuts Corrections Costs
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2006—Today Prison Fellowship filed their appeal of a federal court order to close a very effective prisoner rehabilitation program in Iowa. The State of Iowa and the InnerChange Freedom Initiative also filed appeals with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals contesting Iowa Federal Court Judge Robert Pratt’s ruling in the lawsuit brought by the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.
On June 2, Judge Pratt ordered that the Iowa InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI), a comprehensive, faith-based pre-release program for prisoners that is affiliated with Prison Fellowship, be shut down and that Prison Fellowship and IFI repay the State of Iowa the $1.5 million paid to IFI under a contract for services over the past six years. Judge Pratt ruled that the IFI program was “pervasively sectarian” and thus violated the separation of church and state.
“The lower court’s decision would handcuff people of faith who are helping corrections officials turn inmates’ lives around,” said Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley. “What is at stake here, at its heart, is public safety. The key to reducing recidivism and protecting the public from repeat offenses is effective rehabilitative programming like that provided by the InnerChange Freedom Initiative.”
For nearly a decade, the InnerChange Freedom Initiative has produced dramatic results in changing the lives of hardened criminals and stopping the revolving door of crime. The program presents viable solutions to challenges with which state and local governments struggle.
“Corrections officials asked us to establish this program because it works,” said Earley. “It helps them reduce recidivism, enhance security within the prisons through improved inmate accountability and behavior, and lowers correctional costs.
“For centuries, people of faith have led prison reform efforts in America. Judge Pratt’s ruling would put an end to this valuable resource for prison officials who are trying to send inmates back to their communities with transformed hearts and minds.”
Prison Fellowship and the InnerChange Freedom Initiative are represented in the appeal by The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, interfaith, legal and educational institute dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions and Troutman Sanders, LLP, the Atlanta-based international law firm.
“There is more at stake in this case than one great prison program,” said Kevin J. (Seamus) Hasson, founder and president of The Becket Fund. “The trial court’s opinion threatens to obliterate the good works of many faith-based organizations that contract with the government to serve society. In defending Prison Fellowship, we are defending them all.”
Read the brief in its entirety here.