New Ex-Offender Program Puts Religion Before State

"With budgets slashed, corrections officials are struggling to reduce the recidivism rate among ex-offenders. Chuck Colson’s new program steps into the breach, and hopes to bring down the wall separating church and state to help ex-offenders stay out of prison." (Religion Dispatches, 4/25/10)

Religion Dispatches writer, Mark Bergen, covers a story about a new program called Out4Life (part of Prison Fellowship Ministries, an evangelical prison ministry) to assist in getting recidivism rates down, to help offenders stay out of prison through helping them secure a job, go through rehab, and find a church community for support.

There is a bit of controversy about Out4Life because state-run and financially-burdened prisons are increasingly relying upon these religious ex-offender programs, which raises the question about the 1st Amendment issues of the separation of church and state.

Read the whole article at Religion Dispatches to get a fuller idea of the nature and practice of this prison ministry and the surrounding controversial issues.

(Image from Religion Dispatches website courtesy of Prison Fellowship Int'l.)