NEWS

December 19, 2007
State requests review of prison ministry ruling

The state of Iowa and lawyers for an evangelical Christian prison ministry program have asked the entire 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review a Dec. 3 ruling that said the state cannot fund the program because it violates the separation of church and state required by the Constitution.

InnerChange Freedom Initiative Inc., Prison Fellowship Ministries Inc. and the state of Iowa filed a petition Monday asking all 11 active judges in the 8th Circuit to review the ruling by a three-judge panel 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 petition filed Monday argues that the court incorrectly found that there was no secular program offered to inmates as an alternative to IFI's faith-based program from 2004-06, 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.

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