Post by jj on May 15, 2005 10:53:39 GMT -5
I know this could go under the thread of christianity, but I thought it brought a good question about prisons and was wondering about how others thought about these type of private prisons?
May 15, 2005, 1:20AM
'Faith-based' prison faces big challenges
Amid legal questions, state says it wants no part of planned private facility
By JACK DOUGLAS JR.
Fort Worth Star-telegram
In the West Texas town of San Angelo, where Conrad Hilton built one of his first luxury hotels in 1929, a controversy is brewing over a different type of lodging, one that would accommodate more than 500 convicts.
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Tom Green County commissioners have signed off on a proposal to build a privately operated "faith-based" prison, billed as the first of its kind in bringing institutionalized Christianity into the cellblock.
Proponents say the prison, run by employees with a "Christian world view," would help criminals learn to be law-abiding citizens. They say it would help reduce the number of Texas inmates, thought to be as high as 40 percent, who eventually return to jail.
But there is a hitch: Texas prison officials say they do not want to join the venture.
"We simply are not in the market for that kind of space at this time," said Mike Viesca, spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The department oversees state prisons, which are crowded.
Looking elsewhere
With the state saying that it will not send inmates to the prison, supporters say they will rely on securing contracts with other states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons to fill up the jail.
Such a proposal has been rejected in other parts of Texas, including Midland County, where officials a little more than a year ago worried that a jail with Bible classes would violate the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state.
"We were a little bit anxious about whether we could do that with county funds because of the many Supreme Court decisions about church-and-state separations," Midland County Judge Bill Morrow said.
At the urging of President Bush, faith-based organizations, many of them grounded in a certain religion, have in recent years played bigger roles in social services.
That can become a problem when the service pertains to holding and rehabilitating criminals, said Rob Boston, spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington-based nonprofit group.
"I'm worried that this might just be the flavor of the month: the belief that, if you turn them on to Jesus, they'll stop committing crimes," Boston said.
Constitutional issue
He was not swayed by promises that the private prison would not violate the Constitution. "It's a state promotion of religion, even if it's done through back-door channels," Boston said.
However, another nonprofit organization, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, sees nothing wrong with the plan, even if public money blends with private contributions to pay for it.
As long as inmates with other religious beliefs are not discriminated against, a Christian jail "should not be forced to lose its identity simply because it's receiving public funds for a public benefit," said Jared Leland, spokesman for the Washington-based fund.
Many elected officials in Tom Green County say they are confident that the plan will survive legal challenges because the prison — estimated to cost as much as $28 million to build — will be funded through the county's issuance of bonds, rather than placing the financial burden on the taxpayer.
Using volunteers
They also say inmates will not be forced into the prison. Instead, inmates will volunteer to leave their home state to serve out the last two years of their sentences in a Texas ranching community.
Though the jail would be privately operated, state law requires that it still be approved by county commissioners, as well as by the sheriff.
Under the arrangement, the jail would receive $38.90 per day for each inmate housed, with the county receiving $1.75 of that amount. The deal, Tom Green County Judge Mike Brown said, would generate as much as $300,000 a year in local government revenue.
Initial blueprints call for a maximum inmate population of 570. Instead of barbed-wire fences, the perimeters of the prison grounds would be protected by the 27-foot-high walls of four adjoining buildings, built around a courtyard.
Inmates, dressed in "free-world clothing," would work assembly-type jobs at the prison, at no less than the $5.15-per-hour minimum wage.
Part of their salaries would go toward restitution and to help pay for their room and board, and 15 percent would be set aside as a nest egg for when they are freed.
In the evenings, every inmate would be invited — but not ordered — to participate in Christian activities, said Bill Robinson, the plan's creator and a three-time felon.
Robinson said state prison officials rejected his plan because it would reduce the number of repeat offenders and lessen the need for more money to add prison cells.
May 15, 2005, 1:20AM
'Faith-based' prison faces big challenges
Amid legal questions, state says it wants no part of planned private facility
By JACK DOUGLAS JR.
Fort Worth Star-telegram
In the West Texas town of San Angelo, where Conrad Hilton built one of his first luxury hotels in 1929, a controversy is brewing over a different type of lodging, one that would accommodate more than 500 convicts.
ADVERTISEMENT
Tom Green County commissioners have signed off on a proposal to build a privately operated "faith-based" prison, billed as the first of its kind in bringing institutionalized Christianity into the cellblock.
Proponents say the prison, run by employees with a "Christian world view," would help criminals learn to be law-abiding citizens. They say it would help reduce the number of Texas inmates, thought to be as high as 40 percent, who eventually return to jail.
But there is a hitch: Texas prison officials say they do not want to join the venture.
"We simply are not in the market for that kind of space at this time," said Mike Viesca, spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The department oversees state prisons, which are crowded.
Looking elsewhere
With the state saying that it will not send inmates to the prison, supporters say they will rely on securing contracts with other states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons to fill up the jail.
Such a proposal has been rejected in other parts of Texas, including Midland County, where officials a little more than a year ago worried that a jail with Bible classes would violate the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state.
"We were a little bit anxious about whether we could do that with county funds because of the many Supreme Court decisions about church-and-state separations," Midland County Judge Bill Morrow said.
At the urging of President Bush, faith-based organizations, many of them grounded in a certain religion, have in recent years played bigger roles in social services.
That can become a problem when the service pertains to holding and rehabilitating criminals, said Rob Boston, spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington-based nonprofit group.
"I'm worried that this might just be the flavor of the month: the belief that, if you turn them on to Jesus, they'll stop committing crimes," Boston said.
Constitutional issue
He was not swayed by promises that the private prison would not violate the Constitution. "It's a state promotion of religion, even if it's done through back-door channels," Boston said.
However, another nonprofit organization, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, sees nothing wrong with the plan, even if public money blends with private contributions to pay for it.
As long as inmates with other religious beliefs are not discriminated against, a Christian jail "should not be forced to lose its identity simply because it's receiving public funds for a public benefit," said Jared Leland, spokesman for the Washington-based fund.
Many elected officials in Tom Green County say they are confident that the plan will survive legal challenges because the prison — estimated to cost as much as $28 million to build — will be funded through the county's issuance of bonds, rather than placing the financial burden on the taxpayer.
Using volunteers
They also say inmates will not be forced into the prison. Instead, inmates will volunteer to leave their home state to serve out the last two years of their sentences in a Texas ranching community.
Though the jail would be privately operated, state law requires that it still be approved by county commissioners, as well as by the sheriff.
Under the arrangement, the jail would receive $38.90 per day for each inmate housed, with the county receiving $1.75 of that amount. The deal, Tom Green County Judge Mike Brown said, would generate as much as $300,000 a year in local government revenue.
Initial blueprints call for a maximum inmate population of 570. Instead of barbed-wire fences, the perimeters of the prison grounds would be protected by the 27-foot-high walls of four adjoining buildings, built around a courtyard.
Inmates, dressed in "free-world clothing," would work assembly-type jobs at the prison, at no less than the $5.15-per-hour minimum wage.
Part of their salaries would go toward restitution and to help pay for their room and board, and 15 percent would be set aside as a nest egg for when they are freed.
In the evenings, every inmate would be invited — but not ordered — to participate in Christian activities, said Bill Robinson, the plan's creator and a three-time felon.
Robinson said state prison officials rejected his plan because it would reduce the number of repeat offenders and lessen the need for more money to add prison cells.
) but its true that it always seems to be those who admit they have never smoked pot who most strongly hold the argument that its a gateway drug.