IFI Iowa Receives a New Blow
In February, the Iowa Department of Corrections (DOC) announced that it will cancel the contract for the InnerChange Freedom Initiative. In making the decision, prison officials cited contract provision that allows the DOC to cancel the programme if the enrolment is less than 60 participants. With 27 participants graduating on March 14, 2008, this occurred.
The DOC decision comes after long legal battle over the
constitutionality of a religious based programme receiving funding from
a government entity to provide programme services. An appellate court
decision in late 2007 ruled that the programme could continue if it
received no funding from the state government or if the state
government developed or contracted with a secular rehabilitation
programme that was as comprehensive as IFI’s. IFI Iowa had been
operating from privately donated funds since July 2007.
While the DOC’s decision to close the programme is a blow to PF USA and
the IFI programme, Norm Cox, Vice President of Reentry Initiatives,
said that the churches and volunteers who have been working with IFI
will continue to provide evening programming through the prison
chaplaincy. He also said, “We have committed to a continuation and
possible expansion of re-entry services in the community to include
mentoring.”
April 2008
