A small Oklahoma town is backing plans to open a privately run, faith-based prison that will have only Christians on its staff, The Tulsa World reports. Wakita Mayor Kelly George and other town officials are fully behind the proposed 600-bed prison that would be located on a 150-acre site on the edge of town, the paper says. Bill Robinson, an ex-con and founder of Corrections Concepts Inc., a Dallas-based, non-profit prison ministry that is heading the project, tells the newspaper that he believes the prison wil be open in 16 months.... "The staff, being all born-again believers, will see this as a mission," he says. That, he says, is "about changing criminals into citizens."
I believe in the power of second chances (just ask my girlfriend, with whom I'm on about my fourth second chance). Redemption can and does come in many different forms, including those I may neither agree with nor approve of. Still, even I have to wonder about the wisdom of turning criminals over to what appears to be a commercialized religious indoctrination system. 'Course, this being Oklahoma we're talking about, I can't say that this sort of thing takes me by surprise. These folks observe their Christianity in the same way devout Muslims pray toward Mecca five times a day, making Oklahoma the perfect environment for this sort of program.
My first concern is with the idea of turning corrections into a for-profit industry. Beyond the arguments of efficiency and cost-savings is the reality of supplying inmates to a bottom-line-oriented company. How do we prevent the system and those who run it from becoming incentivized to provide a steady stream of convicts to fill private prison beds? How do we ensure that inmates are treated properly and humanely? I'm not saying that it's not possible to run a for-profit prison system in a fair, equitable, and above-board manner; I'm saying is that the potential for corruption and misbehavior is not insignificant.
My second concern is with the idea of using public money to support a not-so-thinly-veiled religious (Christian) indoctrination program. Yes, I realize that inmates taking part in this program would likely be doing so on a voluntary basis...and I certainly don't mean to say that there aren't benefits that can't and won't be realized. Nonetheless, is this something that tax dollars should be funding? Does the separation of Church and State only apply in Oklahoma when it's convenient? Is the idea that when Christians do it, it's all good?
I don't think it's a stretch to ask what the response would be if a Muslim company proposed the same sort of program. No, the weeping and gnashing of teeth would be heard from here to Key West. Conservative Christians and Right-wingers would be foaming at the mouth as they collapsed in paroxysms ot righteous indignation. Oh, the humanity...what would Jesus do???
While I'm profoundly uncomfortable with the idea of prisons-as-profit-centers, ideas such as faith-based reform programs might be worth a look in some form- IF they're privately funded. I don't konw the specifics of how the proposed Oklahoma program would be funded, but if tax dollars are involved, I'd have to think that an argument could be made that a program such as this is unconstitutional. Even if it isn't unconstitutional, it's certainly an example of using public funds and the power of government to promote a specific religion...Christianity, in this case.
There's no right way to carry out a wrong idea...and this strikes me as a very bad, misguided, and very likely unconstitutional idea.
WE DESERVE BETTER.
