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PF USA Receives Favourable Decision in IFI Lawsuit
Last modified 2007-12-18 22:58
PFUSA has been defending their Community of Restoration, called InnerChange Freedom Initiative IFI), against claims that it violates the US Constitution’s provisions about church and state. Last year a trial court ruled that IFI’s contract with the Iowa Department of Corrections was unconstitutional and demanded not only that the program be closed down, but also that IFI reimburse the state government $1.5 million dollars). This was appealed to the federal appellate court and a decision was handed down earlier this week.
The appellate court overturned significant parts of the trial
court’s decision. Specifically, it said that IFI could continue if it
received no funding from the state government or if the state
government developed or contracted with a rehabilitation program that
was as comprehensive as IFI’s. This way when prisoners chose IFI, it
was because they preferred it to the other program rather IFI being the
only option available. The appellate court also said the trial court
was wrong for ordering reimbursement of the $1.5 million.
IFI sees this as a victory because it had already negotiated a contract
with the state of Iowa that allows it to continue its program but
without receiving any money from the state. However, because the
appellate court agreed that the original contract did violate the
constitution, newspaper headlines (“Appellate Court Calls Faith Based
Prison Ministry Unconstitutional”) make it sound as though it would be
unconstitutional to have any faith based program. That is not the
case.
The IFI press release is available online.
The U.S. Court of Appeals Official Ruling is also
available.