Christian-Only Prison Planned In Oklahoma

It is hard to imagine how this can be constitutional.

The small town of Wakita, near the Oklahoma-Kansas line, plans on building a Christian-only prison in 16 months. Wakita has only 380 people and hopes for a prison of 600 on a 150 acre site.

It would be a private prison run by Correctional Concepts out of Dallas, Texas, which has been trying to push this concept for at least twenty years. In 1996, it garnered the approval of Texas Governor George Bush who called religion “crime’s age-old enemy.” Despite years of pushing this idea in initially supportive communities, this is the first time the prison has been given the go ahead. 

However, the dollars and cents behind the proposal seem suspicious. In 1996, Correctional Concepts estimated that they could incarcerate prisoners at $38.90 a day. Thirteen years later, that figure has been upped to only $42.80 a day. How can a 10% inflation adjustment for 13 years be accurate?

At first, one might think this is not a bad idea. After all, whatever works to distract an inmate from a life of crime must be good. Imagine the details, however, and it quickly becomes a mountain of questions and problems.

The inmates will all be Christians, in the last 12-30 months of their sentence, who agree to participate in the faith-based program.

They would work in prison industries, gaining training and some money. The money would be available for a broad range of possibilities, including their families, restitution, prison care and personal savings.

The pay structure for inmates is an impressive proposal by Correctional Concepts. Unlike a lot of prison work that pays pennies to the hour, Correctional Concepts vows the prevailing wage. Even though the prevailing wage is the minimum wage in the low-income, rural  small towns approached for this prison, it is still an improvement for inmates.

Classes would be available and a Christian college, Wayland University, has agreed to setup a satellite campus.

The inmates will not be forced to attend church or other religious functions, but they will be required to participate in the prison’s programs, which are Christ-based.

All staff are required to be Christians.

“The staff, being all born-again believers, will see this as a mission,” said Bill Robinson, the founder of Correctional Concepts.

Private prisons have been on the rise, but they conduct a prison for profit and do not discriminate on religion or race or any other inmate characteristic.

This prison in Wakita will only take Christians, which gives a preferential path for some prisoners over others. In a state-run prison, Christian services are provided to prisoners, as are services of other religions. The problem with the Wakita prison is that the more successful it is, the more unfair it is to non-Christians. The taxpayer dollars going to the Wakita inmates would not be available for non-Christian inmates.

It is hard to imagine how the prison will not succeed since its organizers will be able to cherry pick the initial prisoners and point to wildly successful results. If these inmates are motivated enough to seek entry in a Christian prison, they are already motivated enough to try to make it on the outside.

Besides the possibility of an earlier parole, these prisoners would get other preferential treatment including more visits from family members and safer conditions.

All this may be moot, though. Section II-5 of the Oklahoma constitution forbids public money to be spent for religious purposes.

“No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such.”

That sounds like a straight forward edict not to spend tax dollars on religious programs, but I am sure the courts will have to work it out.

For the town of Wakita, the prison is a boon. In this economically depressed town, the project is seen as a financial opportunity. Besides the construction jobs to build the prison, 150 staffed positions will be in the prison and another 15-20 support positions in the community.

The supporters of the Christian-only prison have an explanation for why it has taken so long to build it. Dallas Attorney John Sheedy, who has known Robinson during the time he has pushed this idea, said that the opponents were more than just people supporting ”a separation of God and state.” Leading the opposition to the Christian-only prison concept is Satan, himself.

“He exists, he doesn’t want this project to succeed. He is doing everything he can to defeat this project and he is using good people with good intentions. Satan is much more powerful than anybody in this room, he will twist that person around where they think they are doing the right thing in fighting it,” Sheedy told the residents of Leonard, Texas, when it was proposed there in 2007.