Justice Department plans single-faith prison program

[Roland99]

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Justice_Department_plans_singlefaith_prison_program_0429.html

A plan by the Justice Department to offer only single-faith counseling to prisoners in a program designed to prepare them for their release has come under fire, according to a story set for Sunday's Washington Post, RAW STORY has found.

...

The plans do not specify what that faith must be, but they appear to rule out secular counseling or programs that offer inmates guidance in a variety of faiths.

The Washington-based advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State charged in a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that the Justice Department's Bureau of Prisons has tailored its bidding requirements to fit one particular program: an immersion in evangelical Christianity offered by Charles W. Colson's Prison Fellowship Ministries.

Outlining 10 ways in which the Bureau of Prisons' request for proposals from private contractors dovetails with Prison Fellowship's "InnerChange" program, Americans United contended that the plan is unconstitutional and urged Gonzales to withdraw it. Gonzales has not responded to the April 19 letter, Americans United said.

Jeb Bush looking for a job once his tenure as Gov. is up?

[DanCa]

1. hmm will that be the prison of choice for all the gopers ...

that are in legal trouble?

[TomInTib]

2. I knew as soon as I saw the topic... Colson

Jeebus

[donsu]

3. wasn't it the Saudis that just released a huge amount of men

imprisoned for thinking the wrong religious thoughts. they had to be reconditioned to the proper religious thinking before release.

will these U.S. prisoners get early release for proper religious thinking?

[rodeodance]

4. so, Bush is expanding his base.

[IndianaGreen]

5. They are all criminals anyway!

The forced Christianization of America continues on. Praise Jay-Zeus!

[jwirr]

6. That is against my LCMS religion!!!! But of course I'm sure

that there are not criminals in our church?:sarcasm:

[JVS]

15. I remember that coming up once during the weekly prayers in my church

....and the family of Steven Jaeger in the wake of his death, and Eileen Schmidt in her ongoing cancer treatment, and Emily Hoff in her upcoming trial...

I really don't see the direct conflict between this program and LCMS doctrine, unless we consider being in one of these prisons as an endorsement of whatever the doctrine of the people trying to set this up is, which clearly would be syncretism and thus impermissible.

[madrchsod]

7. hmmmm....why do you think some blacks in prison

convert to islam? they can change their name...i am not making this up. this little known fact came right from a prison visiting room... i guess all the white guys with shiny teeth can become born again "Brother Elijah" preaching the gospel of jesus christ....latins are mostly catholics so they are going to hell no matter what they do.

this is such a joke it really defies description. "believe in me and i will set you free"! my god i`m not sure who the worse criminals are--the guys in prison or the guys who are behinds this program.

edited for stupidity

[stillcool]

8. I'm experiencing a new ....

level of hatred that is alarming. Time to chill...

Colson called abortion "the root of the" illegal immigration "problem"

Summary: On his daily BreakPoint radio commentary, convicted Watergate felon and Prison Fellowship Ministries founder Charles W. Colson claimed that legalized abortion created a labor shortage, forcing the United States to solicit undocumented workers from other countries to fill jobs that might have otherwise been occupied by the "40 million sacrificed since 1973" to abortion.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200604120014

[NYC]

11. ...convicted Watergate felon...Charles Colson...

Those are the key words: convicted felon.

A convicted Republican. What a surprise.

[Roland99]

13. That's the same Colson? The one that's behind the Swiftboaters, too?

[NYC]

16. Same Watergate Colson.

Went to prison, and got religion.

I don't know if he was behind the Swiftboaters, but I wouldn't be surprised.

[Roland99]

17. Colson is the one that put O'Neill on Kerry's ass.

http://dir.salon.com/story/opinion/conason/2004/04/23/o_neill/index.html

[NYC]

19. I'm not surprised.

Prison didn't change much in Colson that I can tell.

[Voltaire99]

9. Ironically fitting: Jesus as Jailer

It's Christian puritanism that has put a huge number of our inmates in prison (through the drug war, chiefly).

No wonder, then, that it shall be Christian sermonizing at the exits.

You might call such a system many things--theocratic, insulting, vicious, patronizing, the antithesis of pluralism--and I would agree. But it is also nauseatingly honest. The enduring taste for stockades flows from our religious past, even as prisons today are cozily transformed into brave new outposts of capitalism: they serve as sites of profit for their owners and shareholders, provide slave labor to corporations, and furnish their host communities with federal jobs programs and subsidies (prisons can earn communities federal funding for a wide range of services by artificially increasing the population size, hence making prison-building the goose that laid the golden egg in post-manufacturing America).

Funny how puritanism and capitalism can coexist so well and so nastily! For an insightful look at this relationship, see Richard Lichtmann's superb essay:
http://www.counterpunch.org/lichtman07102004.html

[Roland99]

10. Demonizing is what comes to my mind

Those not born with silver spoon are increasingly ignored and stepped upon by the "have-mores". Then, when those suffering undue hardship are forced to resort to dire methods for survival or finally cave in to societal decay all around them and get addicted to drugs, they are demonized by the "righteous" and thrown into jail where they are now going to be "saved" by a holy book.


Sounds like insanity to me.

[HuffleClaw]

12. so, if you get 'SAVED', you get treated better?

which, they of course deny. this 'faith-based' crap has got to be stopped.

[kestrel91316]

14. (Wondering just how fast they get slapped with a lawsuit and LOSE

because this is f---ing unconstitutional..........)

[daleo]

18. So, fill up the Fundy churches with ex-cons

It would go with the con artists up front.