Hashishi

A faith-based prison is pushed
WAKITA — This tiny town near the Oklahoma-Kansas state line north of Enid may soon own the country's only all-Christian prison, with Christian administrators, employees, counselors and programs.

The idea is backed by Wakita's leaders, has some support from state officials, and, its founders believe, is able to pass constitutional muster.

"If Chicken Little doesn't come to town, we'll be open in 16 months," said Bill Robinson, the founder of Corrections Concepts Inc., a Dallas nonprofit prison ministry that is spearheading the project.

Mayor Kelly George said officials of this town of 380 were fully behind the project and have done everything they need to make it happen.

A 150-acre site on the edge Wakita has been selected, and an agreement has been reached with Corrections Concepts Inc. to manage the 600-bed prison if and when it is built.

Does George believe the prison will be built?

"We're dealing with politicians here; you tell me," he said.

Robinson said the $42 million project would be financed with bonds.

A bond underwriting company said that if a government jurisdiction will commit to sending 310 inmates at a cost of $42.80 a day, bond sales can begin, and the project can proceed.

Robinson said that in a recent meeting, Justin Jones, the head of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, listed "hoops we have to jump through, and we know we can meet all those requirements."

He said he found that encouraging, but he realizes that it carried no guarantees.

Renee Watkins, the administrator of private prisons and jails for the Department of Corrections, said Corrections Concepts Inc. had presented the project to the agency.

"It's a good concept," she said.

"But as far as us using it, we can't make a commitment at all. We're in a bad position because of budget shortfalls. We're not in the market for private prison beds."

Robinson said that if the Corrections Department does not commit to using the prison, the ministry will seek inmates from other states.

Dwight Bushman, an economic development consultant for Wakita, said he initially favored the project because it would benefit the city. "Now I see it as a benefit to our state as a whole, because we can reduce recidivism," he said.

Brad Mohler, the founder of Reconnect Staffing, an Oklahoma City employment service that assists ex-convicts, is working to build support for the Wakita prison.

He called it a hybrid between state-owned prisons, which are underfunded, and private prisons, whose goal is to produce revenue for stockholders.

"This is a good idea, a concept that hasn't been done yet," Mohler said.

Robinson, himself an ex-con and prison minister, said he had been working for years on the idea of an all-Christian prison, and he had invested $1.3 million so far on construction plans and other expenses.

He said a lot of prisons have faith-based or Christian units, but he knows of none with an all-Christian staff.

"The staff, being all born-again believers, will see this as a mission," he said.

"I want people to understand what it's about. It's about changing criminals into citizens."

The prison would accept only men near the end of their sentences who volunteer to come into the prison and sign an agreement to participate.

They would work full time at private industries that operate inside the prison, get job training, and earn money.

The money would go to support their families, pay restitution to their victims, contribute to their own room and board, and produce a nest egg they can take when they leave prison.

Classes in literacy, General Educational Development requirements and life skills would be offered, and Wayland University, a Christian college in Plainview, Texas, has agreed to put a satellite campus in the prison.

"They don't have to go to church, or Bible study, but they have to participate in the curriculum, which is Christ-centered," Robinson said.

He possesses legal opinions that say that as a religious organization, the prison will be able to hire only people of like faith, he said.

If constitutional challenges arise, he said, the American Center for Law and Justice, a major Christian law firm, has agreed to represent the ministry for free.

"True public safety is to change prisoners into citizens," Robinson said.

"Ninety-eight percent of offenders are going to get out of prison. What kind of offender do you want living next door?"

SOURCE

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SmokeyMcPott

I'm interested to see how this plays out. I bet a bunch of hard ass criminals will volunteer and just take the place over lol.

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MetallicaFan495

I cant even imagine how horrible a place like that would be....

Scorpius

Well i'm a moderately intolerant atheist and I would MUCH rather go to a christian prison than a regular one.

A prison's a prison but I would guess one like this would at least be a little less violent than a normal prison. But then again it could be the other way around, who knows it's never been done in the U.S

FreddyC

You ever been to a Christian church?


Freddy

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MetallicaFan495

Yep went to a private christian school for five years. I can tell you that its straight up extreme beyond your wildest dreams.

MetallicaFan495

goodgirl

"If they want everyone working for the prison system to be christian, I doubt they're going to find the body guards to be able to keep that place under control."

Where the hell do you get the idea that Christians can't make good guards? Considering the number of people in the world that would consider themselves Christian chances are a large majority of the current guards are Christian. What a strange stereotype....


I have a problem with any privatization of prisons. The concept that Christianity is somehow the answer to turning your life around doesn't really sit well with me either. Too many chances of personal agendas being made policy.

The whole thing stinks to me. Although I am all for trying to come up with new solutions to our prison problems and rehabilitation should be more of a focus I am not convinced that privatizing prisons and allowing prisons with specific religious affiliations is the right way to go.

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intangible child

At Leavenworth, Kansas, within a perimeter of razor wire, armed prison guards in uniform supervise hundreds of medium- and maximum-security federal prisoners. Welcome to one of America's growth industries- private sector, for-profit prisons. Here in the shadow of the federally-run Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks and the Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) runs a short-term detention facility for medium- and maximum-security prisoners. Under contract to the U.S. Marshal's Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the CCA Leavenworth facility is not an anomaly but part of a trend. In the last decade, from juvenile detention centers to county jails and work farms to state prison units to INS holding camps for undocumented aliens, private interests have entered the incarceration business in a big way. Where there are people detained, there are profits to be made.

Imprisonment is an ugly business under any regime, but the prospect of a privatized prison system raises difficult and disturbing questions beyond those associated with a solely state-operated prison system. It has been, after all, a common assumption that the criminalization and punishment of certain behaviors-the deprivation of physical liberty and even of life itself-are not amenable to private sector usurpation. Some of the arguments that inform this assumption are ethical, some legal, and others practical, but all are being challenged by a growing group of special interests.
Private Prisons:Profits of Crime

[PDF]
Prisons for Profit: Public Justice, Private Interests
http://www.epi.org/studies/prisons-1988.pdf

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2009/08/25/locking-up-profits-in-private-prisons.aspx

MetallicaFan495

I think you misunderstand my point. Im not saying christians CANT be bodyguards just because they're christian. In fact that doesnt even make sense. What im saying is do you think a christian is going to tackle and handcuff a murderer or rapist while trying to show them the word of god with a bible in the other hand? As part of my 3 month probation I had to go to a high security prison, where everybody there is serving at least a 15 year prison sentence and alot (maybe even majority) are there for life. In the 2 hours I was there, I saw 1 stabbing and 3-4 fights just break out in the middle of nowhere. Its REALLY fucked up what goes on in there, and after seeing that you have to wonder why the prison system even lets them communicate with each other. If your part of a gang, and there are 4 guys in the same prison with you from a rival gang...your gonna die. Its just the way it is, and the funny thing about the tour through the prison was that the people leading us through the tour were prison inmates. Obviously they signed up for that so they can get a shorter prison sentence. One of the inmates who was taking us through the tour straight up told us "look kids im doin this shit cause the court is gonna let me out earlier, but im a murderer and id kill all you all if I had the chance." Do I even wanna know? If your a christian and your dedicating your life to helping others, how could anyone bear to watch people get stabbed and killed everyday? And im not lying when I say that people die EVERY SINGLE DAY. Im 100% not lying and its pretty damn fucked up in reality what goes on there. I saw a glimpse of my worst nightmares. Shit if you were in prison, wouldnt you be all for christian run prisons? Lmao seriously the FIRST DAY that prison is open would be the day all the prison kill the guards and run away. Im not being sarcastic either, im sure most of you on this forum arnt murderers, but these people will kill you.

macphearsome

I like the idea because it seems like their hearts are in the right place. Rehabilitation is something that I think we can afford to get behind.

However, as an atheist I would be worried that some judges will give deals out to people who "volunteer" for time in a christian prison, basically coercing them into a religious facility with a motivation beyond rehabilitation.

-shrug-

glad I'm not in prison!

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