Posted by
Joe Knippenberg on Monday, October 22, 2007 10:20:34 PM
The invaluable
Professor Friedman calls our attention to
this report evaluating Florida's faith-based prisons (one for men and one for women). Initial outcomes seem positive, though the sample sizes are too small for the results to be statistically significant. Without reading too much into this, it's fair to say that this adds, at least in a small way to the growing sense that such "penitentiaries," which help inmates get ready for life outside prison, are an attractive penal model.
I'll also note that the explicitly religious elements of the Florida prisons are privately funded and staffed by volunteers, which means that they should easily pass constitutional muster.