he year 2000 is over, 2001 has hardly begun, and already the pundits are attaching descriptive labels, including "the best of ..." and "the worst off..." One characterization, though, that has unsettling consequences is that both periods may end up being called the Year of the Great Release. A record number of prison inmates, swept up in the anticrime drives of the 1980s and 1990s have done their time behind bars, and are now returning home in record numbers.

   It has experts and law enforcement authorities worried. This past year, a record 585,000 convicted felons are expected to walk out the gates of the nation's burgeoning prison system, nearly three times the number released only two decades ago. A recent USA TODAY feature quoted Rhode Island corrections director A.T. Wall, who tracks the status of released prisoners. "Ready or not, here they come..." he says.

   The same faddism that resulted in an explosion in the prison population over the past 15-20 years is now producing calls for "quick action," everything from even tougher sentencing and more police, to rehabilitation programs using a religion-based formula. Faith-based "re-entry" programs could be the wave of the future, especially with religious groups already heavily involved in the prison system, and claiming high (though often unverified) rates of success in turning former offenders into reputable, God-fearing citizens. An AANEWS investigation found over 60 prison ministry and "re-entry" programs of varying descriptions affiliated with sectarian groups.

   One, Abounding Love Ministries, Inc. is operated by an ex-member of the Charles Manson family who claims to be "yet born again and serving God." Others concentrate on distribution of Bibles and other religious materials behind prison walls, or are involved in programs to "prepare inmates for a successful Christian Lifestyle" (Gadarenes Ministry) or "shepherd" ex-offenders into a strict religious routine.

   One of the largest programs is the Prison Fellowship Ministry, operated by former Nixon administration operative and Watergate crook Charles "Chuck" Colson. A frequent guest on Pat Robertson's "700 Club" program and the rest of the religious right celebrity circuit, Colson was dubbed the "evil genius" of the Nixon-era White House, and was in charge of a secret program to hire Teamsters thugs to beat up antiwar demonstrators, and raid or firebomb a Washington think-tank critical of the administration. He pleaded guilty to scheming to defame Daniel Ellsberg, who released the controversial "Pentagon Papers," and ended serving seven months in federal prison. Colson now frequently describes himself as a "sinner," and has become a champion in advocating religion-based rehabilitation schemes in the nation's prisons and post-release programs.

   Most categories of crime rates, including violent offenses are at or near historic lows. Experts attribute this to everything from a surge of prison construction -- indeed, the incarceration industry has become a lucrative cash-cow for private penal companies such as Corrections Corporation of America -- to the simple fact that jobs are plentiful, and that ready employment usually results in decreased criminal activity. Pessimists, though, put a dark spin on this, and point to growing number of prisoners (some of them violent offenders) who are now being released back into society. The trend is likely to continue, since the number of prisoners has quadrupled since 1980 (314,272 incarcerations that year compared to 1,366,721 for the year 2000 according to Bureau of Justice statistics), and these inmates, too, will eventually find their way back into mainstream culture.

   The predictions are ominous, and include a "spike" in crime rates, especially with any economic down turn, and strains on public health resources if former drug addicts return to their previous habits.

   "The social consequences will be equally ominous," declared USA TODAY, describing a new wave of domestic and child abuse as offenders, trying to reconnect with wives and children, revert to violent behaviors. "Homelessness could rise. And because they leave prison with little besides the clothes on their backs, offenders could drain community food and clothing banks," warns the paper.

   Not everyone agrees with these dire prognostications, though. Inmates are older following release from 10-20 year sentences, a factor which is usually associated with declining crime rates. The doomsday scenarios also may not take into account existing programs both inside and beyond prisons which provide job training and other support services. Re-entry programs are a new rage, though, and outgoing Attorney General Janet Reno has established 17 special regions throughout the nation for new pilot projects using $100 million approved by Congress last year.

   Increasingly, religious groups operating on both sides of prison walls say they can, and should, operate projects design to rehabilitate and follow-up on inmates once they are released.

   Colson's Prison Ministry Fellowship, operates several outreaches in the Texas penal system, include one "God Pod" unit with 200 inmates. "From dawn to dusk," noted a piece by writer David Plotzin in SLATE, "the inmates attend prayer meetings, Bible study and chapels. All activities are explicitly evangelical and Protestant." Plotzin adds, "Muslims in the program complain of ostracism, and civil libertarians are alarmed at the project's aggressive promotion of Christianity."

   A similar review in the Washington Post of Colson's "Inner Change" prison regimen notes that while it is "designed to break the cycle of criminal behavior ... rehabilitation is rarely mentioned directly. Rather, it's an assumed byproduct of the primary goal, which is turn convicts into believers."

   Prison Fellowship's "Celebration of Hope" program, hosted by Colson, gives insight into the political and social agenda behind faith-based prison outreaches, and their fate under a Bush administration that seeks to expand the role of sectarian groups in the operation of social programs. The traveling conferences which are usually directed at church congregation audiences, include former presidential hopeful Alan Keyes; Christian singer and songwriter Charles Billingsley; GOP political operative Pat Nolan; and Marvin Olasky, the University of Texas professor who edits World Magazine, and is a key Bush advisor on promoting "faith-based partnerships."

   Problems abound with any proposals to incorporate religion-based programs with "re-entry" initiatives.

   ¶    The overt religious character of all faith-based programs poses a serious constitutional problem. Olasky and other advocates of faith-based social services are sometimes reluctant to have the state subsidize religious groups in such a fashion -- but only because they fear oversight supervision and other "intrusions." President-elect Bush has promised to spend $8 billion in funding a Federal Office of Faith-Based Partnership, which would serve as a granting agency and resource center for sectarian groups operating social outreaches. It's a fair bet that many religious groups would gladly accept public funding for their programs if there were few if any oversight requirements.

   ¶    There are few credible statistics on the efficacy of faith-based rehabilitation schemes. A study done by the Family Research Council in October, 1996 ("Faith-Based Prison Programs Cut Costs and Recidivism") goes to considerable lengths to discuss the situation in the nation's criminal justice system, but then relies mostly on anecdotal claims and in-house statistics from groups like the Prison Fellowship Ministries. The study includes several claims by supporters of faith-based programs, and only two studies on faith and recidivism. One 1992 investigation by Rutgers University is cited, but deals with how religious inmates cope with depression, guilt and self-contempt. Bottom line: taxpayers may be asked to ante up hundreds of millions of dollars for faith-based "re-entry" and other prison-related programs without benefit of credible evidence that such outreaches would even work.

   With President-elect George W. Bush pushing ahead on his plans to energize a federal faith-based outreaches, the rising tide of prisoners back into society could be yet another excuse to bring about wider public funding of religion. Taxpayers may be asked to subsidize questionable and even ineffective programs, though, minus adequate oversight guidelines and other controls. Worse yet, millions of Americans will be compelled to do something considered abhorrent by the Founders of the Republic -- have their tax money expropriated for the benefit of sectarian religion.

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