ADL to criticize ‘Christian only’ prison

 Should a religious group get the franchise to run a Christian-only prison?  Talk about issues tailor made for the Anti-Defamation League.

The issue centers on a non-profit prison ministry called  Corrections Concepts Inc., which wants to build a privately run,  all-Christian prison in Wakita, Oklahoma.

The facility is meant for inmates  nearing the end of their terms; to get in, they’d have to agree to participate fully in the new prison’s programs, including religious education and worship, and the new facility would employ only Christians.

Steve Freeman, legal director for the ADL, says there have been religious wings in existing prisons, but never an all-Christian facility; using government money for the all-Christian facility would violate both the U.S. Constitution and Oklahoma’s “Blaine amendment,” he said.

“And this program has the potential to be coercive if treatment at the new prison is better,” he said.

The Jewish civil rights group may write a letter to Oklahoma authorities protesting the proposed prison this week.

Read about the prison in the Tulsa World.