Florida Faith-Based Prison Plan Lambasted by Liberal Group

[donsu]

(thank goodness somebody is lambasting it)

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=%5CCulture%5Carchive%5C200312%5CCUL20031211b.html

-snip-

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State opposes Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's plan to convert the Lawtey Correctional Institution, a medium-security prison in Bradford County, into a facility run along religious lines.

"This is a clearly unconstitutional scheme," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "A state can no more create a faith-based prison than it could set up faith-based public schools or faith-based police departments."

-snip-

"Gov. Bush is trying to merge religion and government," said Lynn. "While prison inmates should be free to practice their faith voluntarily, they shouldn''t be pressured to do so by the government."

Lynn noted that Americans United filed a lawsuit last year to block a state-sponsored fundamentalist Christian project operating with public funds at a prison in Iowa. That case, against Charles Colson''s InnerChange program, is pending in federal court.
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[wryter2000]

1. My hero

Barry Lynn is my hero. www.americansunited.com

[Loonman]

2. JEB is a lunatic

Recall his ass, immediately.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

3. and the hits just keep on coming

So here's the plan for Florida Law Enforcement:

1) Prowl black neighborhoods.
2) Arrest black non-violent drug offenders.
3) Imprison black non-violent drug offenders.
4) Remove black non-violent drug offender's right to vote
5) Convert black non-violent drug offenders to Fundamentalist
Christianity.

[bobbieinok]

4. #4 is the MOST important

...

[OldSoldier]

5. Add 2a...

2) Arrest blacks
2a) Convict blacks of drug offenses; under the Saddam Doctrine, the fact that the blacks were not in possession of drugs at the time of their arrest, that their urine specimens contained no drugs and that they were active in Anti Drug Organizations only means that these blacks were hiding their drugs.
3) Imprison black drug offenders...

But you got the basic idea right.

[noonwitch]

6. I have no problem with prison ministries

They visit people that no one else wants to see, provide them with reading materials and for the most part, try to build up the prisoners they work with. I also don't have a problem with parolees choosing to work with a religious-based agency when they are released. A prison itself should not be a religious institution.

[asjr]

7. Yes, but

talk about a captive audience.