Held captive by a determination to keep religion confined to churches and homes, the Freedom from Religion Foundation is demanding the Wisconsin Department of Corrections sever ties with an educational ministry that offers inmates a degree in Biblical studies.
Modeled after the 22-year-old seminary housed at Angola Prison in Louisiana, the Wisconsin Inmate Education Association (WIEA) and Trinity International University (TIU) formed a partnership to create Operation Transformation, an educational program offering a Bachelor of Science in Biblical studies to inmates serving life or long-term sentences. After completing the four-year program, the inmates are reassigned to other prisons as “field ministers.”
The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) calls Operation Transformation a “grave” violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and claims in a letter sent to state officials that inmates would be better served by a non-religious education.
Representatives for the WIEA and TIU would not comment on the FFRF letter because they were not aware of its existence until I asked them about it, but they said they are looking into the matter. A representative from the Wisconsin Department of Corrections did not respond to questions by deadline.
The letter demands an immediate suspension of the prison’s association with the WIEA…
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