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The program in Texas was studied by the University of Pennsylvania, which confirmed a study by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The studies showed that those who graduated from the program had a 17 percent re-arrest rate and an 8 percent re-incarceration rate after two years. That's a pretty dramatic decrease in recidivism.

However, if people come into the program and drop out, their recidivism rates aren't any better than in the general prison population. Unless you finish it, you're not going to be able to read very well.

We were sued in Iowa three years ago after operating for about seven years with no legal challenges. We were sued by Barry Lynn and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The judge ruled in June, and it couldn't have been any more adverse. He ordered that the program be shut down in 60 days. He ordered that Prison Fellowship pay back all of the money that it had received from the state of Iowa, which amounts to $1.7 million.

He also took it upon himself to define evangelicals as distinct from other Christian groups. He said that the views that evangelicals hold on the substitutionary atonement and bodily resurrection of Christ are not widely held by Christians. And it led him to the conclusion that there's nothing that an evangelical can do or say that isn't aimed at converting someone. Based on that, he found the program was not constitutional.

We've appealed the case, and while that is pending, the judge's order to shut down the program and pay back the money we've received from the state is on hold.

How have churches responded to your attempts to get them more involved in prison ministry?
When Chuck got ready to found Prison Fellowship, he says Billy Graham told him, "Why don't you preach, because you're going to have a hard time getting the church to embrace a ministry to prisoners."

Today, there are hundreds and hundreds of local churches that have their own prison ministries. There are great organizations like Good News Jail and Prison Ministry, Kairos Prison Ministry, and Bill Glass's Champions for Life. The combined effort of all of us working together is that we see churches today much more willing to embrace prison ministry than they were 30 years ago.

The church fundamentally views prisoners differently than the secular world, because they have been created in the image of God.

How does that translate to Prison Fellowship's public policy work?
Justice Fellowship works on restorative justice, which is an attempt to bring biblical principles to bear on the criminal justice system at large: how the criminal justice system views inmates, how it views the justice process, how it understands the notion of justice, how it views restitution and punishment, how it views the needs of the victim.

Are you working on any particular piece of legislation?
We're working on legislation on Capitol Hill called the Second Chance Act. It's a bipartisan bill that creates grants for states and community groups to work with prisoners who are being released.

The future of prison ministry lies in working with those who are coming out of prison. For many years, a lot of people viewed prison ministry as what goes on when someone is in prison. What we're finding is that if we want to see God continue to raise up men and women from within prison, see them come to Christ, make lifestyle changes, and be fruitful for the rest of their lives after they get out of prison, some of the most critical ministry occurs when they leave the prison gate.

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November 2006, Vol. 50, No. 11