Evolution Surrenders!

This may sound like a good idea at first to some, but is going to lead to many problems in the long run:

CRAWFORDVILLE - -- Corrections officials and Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday announced the conversion of a third state prison into a faith-based facility. Wakulla Correctional Institution, south of Tallahassee, becomes the largest faith-based prison in the nation, with capacity of 1,622 inmates. A men's prison in Lawtey and a women's prison in Hillsborough County also have been converted. The faith-based movement in the prison system "is setting an environment for a person who has made a mistake, or done something wrong, to still be able to live in a safe, secure place where they can develop as an individual, as a person, as a human being," said James Crosby, secretary of the state Department of Corrections.

Okay, that sounds good. It would keep those who do not want to be part of gang life or the criminal element safe from the those that do. That is the thinking here. Right?

Bush said demand for the faith-based system merited its expansion. More than 300 inmates are on a waiting list for existing programs, according to the corrections department. The concept is too new to provide a definitive study of recidivism rates, but corrections officials say those in faith-based programs have fewer fights, get fewer disciplinary reports and experience fewer mental health events such as depression, anxiety attacks and explosive anger.

Read the rest of the story here.

This is not going to work for a number of reasons. Is it not too much to think that every single group of people are soon going to be wanting to have their own specialty group prisons? I'm not talking just about religious groups, but cultural groups, gang groups, and don't forget the scientologists. What is to deter people who are not of a certain group from claiming they are to get into these specialty prisons? Are there going to be special tests to see if these people do qualify to be part of the specialty prison?

Part of the deterent factor for crime is that prison is hard. It is not a place to find comfort, fellowship, and discovering your innerself. That is what cults are for. If people get the picture that prison life is going to be easy, they will be more likely to commit crimes. I'm not going to get into the aspect of seperation of church and state, as the growing trend in this country is privately owned prisons, which can blur the lines.

Keep prisons as prisons. Don't turn them into bible camps.