Wakita, USA - A press release issued by Americans United for Separation of Church and State today stated that a proposed "Christian" prison in Wakita, Oklahoma, could not be supported with public funds without violating the separation of church and state mandated by the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution.
The proposed 600 bed prison is the brainchild of Bill Robinson, founder of Corrections Concepts Inc., himself a former convict. According to its promoters, the estimated $42 million facility would be America's first "all-Christian prison" and would employ only "born-again" Christians in all its positions. Robinson, who has ministered to inmates since 1985, said, "God gave me this vision... to go build a prison." He has now signed an agreement with the town of Wakita (pop. 380) to manage the facility if it is ever built.
That may be a very big "if."
In a letter to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, AU notes that the 8th U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against a similar religious program in Iowa in its 2007 Americans United v. Prison Fellowship Ministries decision.
The letter additionally states, “If the Department provides funding to Corrections Concepts’ prison indoctrination will be the inevitable result, just as it was in Prison Fellowship Ministries. And, just as inevitably, the funding of such indoctrination will violate the Constitution.” The letter was signed by Americans United Legal Director Ayesha N. Khan, AU Senior Litigation Counsel Alex J. Luchenitser and AU Staff Attorney Ian Smith.
In their press release, Americans United executive director, Barry Lynn says, “It is wrong for government to take taxpayers’ money and spend it on religious indoctrination. That’s a violation of the fundamental rights of every American."
“I strongly believe," he goes on, "that inmates should have access to religious services of their own choosing, but government should never favor one faith over others or coerce inmates to participate in religion.”
Atheists and secularists aren't the only ones condemning the idea of public funding for a faith-based prison. Dr. Bruce Prescott, executive director of Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists, wrote the following in his blog:
I am a "born again" Baptist minister. I firmly believe that faith in Christ changes hearts and transforms lives. I am also deeply convicted that government has no role in promoting faith of any kind.
If some Christians in Oklahoma or elsewhere want an "all-Christian prison" it needs to be built and operated at "all-Christian expense."
I agree with the founding fathers of our state who made this clear in the Constitution of the State of Oklahoma (1907):
Section II-5: Public Money or Property — Use for Sectarian Purposes.
No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such.
This is not the first time Corrections Concepts Inc., has run into opposition to its faith-based prison idea. The proposal has already been rejected by a number of counties in Texas despite CCI's assurances that only privately-raised funds would be used.
CCI's attorney, Dallas-based John Sheedy, has his own idea of why the firm has run into so much opposition. He believes Satan is responsible. “He exists, he doesn’t (sic) this project to succeed,” he said. “He is doing everything he can to defeat this project and he is using good people with good intentions. Satan is much more powerful than anybody in this room, he will twist that person around where they think they are doing the right thing in fighting it.”