ST. LOUIS (ABP) — A federal appeals court has affirmed a lower court's decision saying state funding for a Christian prison program in Iowa was unconstitutional.
But the three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in its Dec. 3 ruling, overturned the lower court's decree ordering a Christian group to reimburse the state of Iowa for most of the funds it expended on the program.
The judges said the lower court was correct in ruling that the InnerChange program at Iowa's Newton Correctional Facility violated the First Amendment as well as provisions of the Iowa Constitution. That was because participants were offered living-arrangement advantages unavailable to those who did not participate in the program, the program and the prison had no way to monitor whether government funds given to it were spent on sectarian purposes, and the program was focused on Bible study and conversion.
“In this case, the state effectively gave InnerChange its 24-hour power to incarcerate, treat, and discipline inmates,” Judge Duane Benton wrote on behalf of the unanimous appeals panel. “In the present case, plaintiffs demonstrated (and defendants do not seriously contest) that the InnerChange program resulted in inmate enrollment in a program dominated by Bible study, Christian classes, religious revivals, and church services.”
The panel was joined by retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who is filling in for the 8th Circuit temporarily.
In the case, a group of Iowa taxpayers and inmates represented by Americans United for Separation of Church and State sued InnerChange, which also operates in other prisons around the nation. It is run by Prison Fellowship, the ministry to prisoners founded by former Nixon White House official and convicted criminal Chuck Colson.
However, the appellate judges said the lower federal court erred in ordering InnerChange and Prison Fellowship to reimburse Iowa for more than $1.5 million in state funds it paid to operate InnerChange at the Newton facility prior to the lower court's ruling. That ruling came in June 2006.
“In ordering recoupment, the district court did not consider the testimony of the state prison officials — credited elsewhere in the order — that the program was beneficial and the state received much more value than it paid for. In the prison context, courts defer to the judgment of prison administrators,” Benton wrote. “This deference does not insulate prison administrators' decisions from judicial review. However, in shaping equitable relief, a court should consider the views of prison administrators, which oppose recoupment in this case.”
Nonetheless, InnerChange will still have to return state funds received between the 2006 ruling and last July, when Iowa officials stopped funding the program.
The program has continued to operate at the Newton facility, but it does so under an agreement with the Iowa Department of Corrections that private funds would underwrite it. A stipulation of the agreement was that the state could end the program if the appeals panel ruled against it.
It was not immediately clear whether Iowa would exercise that option.
Americans United released a statement praising the appeals court's decision. “You simply cannot give government funds to a religious group for its evangelism program,” the statement said.
Prison Fellowship released a statement focusing on the reversal of the lower court's decision to force it to reimburse Iowa to the tune of $1.5 million.
“The Eighth Circuit has acknowledged that the operational changes we have made to the program have enabled it to remain in good constitutional standing,” Mark Early, the group's president, said. “We are appreciative of the court for today's guidelines that provide clearer ground rules as we continue to address a crime problem that threatens the safety of our nation's communities.”
The Case is Americans United v. Prison Fellowship, No. 06-2741.
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Read more:
8th Circuit Decision in Americans United v. Prison Fellowship
Court says prison program violates First Amendment (6/6/2006)