The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

A three-member panel of the 8th Circuit Court, which included former United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, upheld U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt's June 2006 ruling that a Prison Fellowship Ministries program at the Newton Correctional Facility was unconstitutional if paid for with taxpayer dollars.

The program at Newton immerses inmates in evangelical Christianity. Inmates who complete the 18-month program also get help after they're released from prison.

Barry Lynn, executive director of the Washington-based advocacy group Americans United For Separation of Church and State, which brought the lawsuit challenging the program, predicted that the Dec. 3 ruling would have major implications for the Bush administration's policies of allowing public funding for faith-based groups to offer services to government institutions.

The group's legal director, Ayesha Khan, said the court's ruling presents faith-based groups some challenges.

"They're really trying to argue that they ought to be able to violate the constitution with impunity," she said.

The petition filed Monday asks the full court to vacate the panel's Dec. 3 ruling arguing that it did not appropriately apply two legal doctrines.

It contends that the court incorrectly found that there was no secular program offered to inmates as an alternative to IFI's faith-based program from 2004-2006, a period in which Iowa provided partial funding for the IFI program.

IFI, Prison Fellowship and the state contend that the state did offer secular rehabilitation programs to inmates that were alternatives to IFI.

The petition also claims the court incorrectly allowed taxpayers to challenge programs where no tax money was expected. It claims the prison program was funded by the Legislature in part with money from the Healthy Iowans Tobacco Trust, money paid by tobacco manufacturers as part of a settlement with the state and not taxpayer funds.

"And perhaps it should go without saying that taxpayer standing must be based on the expenditure of taxes. But here, the court permitted taxpayers to challenge contracts which did not rely upon taxes," the petition said.

Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley said in a statement that the technical legal challenges do not impact the nine IFI programs currently operating in six states because they're privately funded, but "we feel these are important legal issues for all faith-based organizations going forward."

"We think the appellate court didn't get the law right on these two points and that it's important, on principle, to ask the entire court to review them," he said.

IFI operates privately funded programs in Texas, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri, including three programs for women.

The program continues to operate at the Newton prison, located about 40 miles east of Des Moines, but with no state funding, said Fred Scaletta, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Corrections.

http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2007/12/19/news/iowa/20e504384872e1
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On the Net:
InnerChange Freedom Initiative: http://www.ifiprison.org
Americans United for Separation of Church and State: http://www.au.org