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Christianity Today, May, 2008 |

Prison Fight

InnerChange ministry shuts down in Iowa after funding battle.

Katelyn Beaty | posted 4/07/2008 08:53AM

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In a decision that may have implications for other faith-based recipients of government funding, Iowa's Department of Corrections closed a Prison Fellowship program at the Newton Correctional Facility. The move came after a federal appeals court ruled last December that the program's funding had overstepped church-state boundaries.

According to department spokesman Fred Scaletta, InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI) was notified in late February that it would be shuttered once fewer than 60 inmates were enrolled in the program. The threshold was crossed on March 14 after 27 inmates graduated from the program, Scaletta said.

Howard Friedman, a Toledo University law professor, said the Newton program faced problems because government funding cannot be used for religious instruction.

"The aid [to IFI] amounted to direct aid to a religious program," Friedman said.

"The arrangement did not meet the criteria for an indirect aid program, where funds went to participants who then had a free choice of where to spend them."

Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU), which initiated the lawsuit against IFI, said housing program participants in a separate wing of the Newton prison amounted to "special privileges."

Prison Fellowship president Mark Earley said the Iowa decision wouldn't affect the ministry's remaining 8 IFI programs. He also said that the court's ruling would ultimately benefit faith-based service providers, because it clarified how state funding can be used.

However, Earley admitted that it was "just easier" to seek private funding for Iowa's IFI than to meet government regulations. All of IFI's programs have been privately funded since July 2007.

Related Elsewhere:

Christianity Today's earlier coverage includes:

Rx for Recidivism | Prison Fellowship president Mark Earley talks about challenges the ministry faces. (November 21, 2006)

Bad Judgment | Ruling imperils faith-based programs around the country. (Charles Colson with Anne Morse, August 1, 2006)

Imprisoned Ministry | The future of Prison Fellowship's rehabilitation program, and other faith-based social services, are in the hands of an appeals court. (July 14, 2006)

Study Lauds Prisoner Program | Prison Fellowship releases InnerChange research at a White House roundtable. (June 1, 2003)

Suing Success | Prison Fellowship says its Inner Change program is clearly constitutional (March 1, 2003)

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May 2008, Vol. 52, No. 5

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Anna	Posted: April 07, 2008 10:40 PM

A successful Christian program is terrifying to organizations like AU so to protect the taxpayer AU steps in. The problem is it's only Christian programs they go after. Muslim programs using prisons for conversions are left alone. The inmates are Christians just not practicing their faith. Is there discrimination here. Also, taxpayer money gets spent on lots of programs that taxpayers disagree with. For instance, I don't want my tax money spent on school programs teaching children that homosexual sex is a "life style" or my tax money spent on teaching children that abortion because our government says it's legal means abortion is a "choice" and not murder. My point is that of course a successful Christian program that helps someone to better themselves is a no no because AU and other organizations like them are humanist and believe that only man himself can solve the world's problems. Make the program private & AU & their like can't touch them & the inmates get helped which AU forgot.

Jim D.

Posted: April 07, 2008 9:05 PM

Thank God that IFI is seeking private funding . I understand that faith based programs arent cheap, but we Christians really have no bussiness putting our hand out to the government or any other organization that can put restrictions on how we handle our affairs. If we continue in that path we may as well just burry our heads in the sand and become like so many of the European Churches and become state sponsored. What good are we in preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ then.

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