{"id":5523,"date":"2023-01-31T14:07:55","date_gmt":"2023-01-31T19:07:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=5523"},"modified":"2023-02-02T16:41:54","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T21:41:54","slug":"indiana-detention-center-praises-god-after-dozens-of-prisoner-baptisms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2023\/01\/indiana-detention-center-praises-god-after-dozens-of-prisoner-baptisms.html","title":{"rendered":"Indiana Detention Center Praises God After Dozens of Prisoner Baptisms"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_5571\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5571\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5571\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/409\/2023\/01\/decatur-inmates-baptism_credit-Decatur-County-Sheriff-facebook-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5571\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Decatur County Sheriff \/ Facebook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Decatur County Detention Center in Greensburg, IN, took to social media to celebrate the new year with the announcement of nearly 40 men and women inmates being baptized. \u201cWhat a great way to celebrate Christmas and a New Year!\u201d the post announced. \u201cDCDC Chaplain Dave Burnett, along with REC members, baptized nearly 40 men and women after a personal, public profession of Jesus Christ in their lives.\u201d The baptisms are part of the Center\u2019s \u201cResidents Encountering Christ\u201d (REC) program, part of outgoing Sheriff David Durant\u2019s emphasis on rehabilitation programs. Durant pushed for extra space made for rehabilitation programs in the recently-constructed Center, including secular programs like the Moral Reconation Therapy provided for by the Decatur County United Fund. In 2019, Durant spoke to the Daily Mail about his belief in the need for \u201cheart change\u201d to help inmates avoid recidivism. \u201c\u2026 everyone knows that the longest distance to travel is the 18 inches between the head and the heart,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you can change the heart during that journey, everything will follow suit. Whether it be alcohol or drugs or poverty that are creating the cycle, we only have to change their hearts to stop the process.\u201d The program boasts more than 300 inmates have been baptized.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, not everyone is thrilled with the announcement. A lawyer from the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent a letter to the Center demanding that it stop \u201cits promotion of, and official affiliation with, Christianity on its official social media pages and through its religious events, programs, and activities in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.\u201d The FFRF had previously sent a letter to the Center in July. \u201c\u2026 it is obvious that the Department\u2019s motive in planning and promoting inmate baptisms, the REC program, and the MRT program is not simply to accommodate inmates but to advance Christianity and coerce inmates and the broader Decatur County community to adhere to the tenets of Christianity\u2026 Any inmate aware of the DCDC\u2019s official support for, and celebration of inmates participating in, religious programs will not feel free to decline to participate. This is constitutionally impermissible.\u201d the letter stated at that time.<\/p>\n<p>Recidivism, or the re-entry of inmates into the correctional system soon after their release, affects many American inmates. According to the National Institute of Justice, 44 percent of released criminals are reincarcerated within the first year of their release. In 2005, 68 percent had been arrested within 3 years with a new crime, and 77 percent were arrested within 5 years. In 2005, an article entitled \u201cEffect of Faith-Based Programs in Reducing Recidivism and Substance Abuse of Ex-Offenders,\u201d looked at two of the leading faith-based programs for fighting recidivism: Teen Challenge International and Prison Fellowship Ministries. The article concluded that \u201c\u2026faith-based programs for offenders work because they instill positive values and alter deviant behavior through proven techniques.\u201d Another article entitled \u201cCan a Faith-Based Prison Reduce Recidivism\u201d found that participants in the InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI), a faith-based program in a Texas prison, had much lower arrest rates after leaving prison versus non-IFI participants (17.3 percent vs. 35 percent). They also had much lower reincarceration rates (8 percent vs. 20.3 percent). Martin King, a participant in a similar program in Florida, shared his hope for change. \u201cOur fight is not over. We must continue to press individually; we must not cower at the chance to become men and continue to improve our lives and be proof that change is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Decatur County Detention Center in Greensburg, IN, took to social media to celebrate the new year with the announcement of nearly 40 men and women inmates being baptized. \u201cWhat a great way to celebrate Christmas and a New Year!\u201d the post announced. \u201cDCDC Chaplain Dave Burnett, along with REC members, baptized nearly 40 men&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":5571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Indiana Detention Center Praises God After Dozens of Prisoner Baptisms<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A detention center in Indiana took to Facebook to show the baptisms of the inmates who have accepted God.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2023\/01\/indiana-detention-center-praises-god-after-dozens-of-prisoner-baptisms.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Indiana Detention Center Praises God After Dozens of Prisoner Baptisms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A detention center in Indiana took to Facebook to show the baptisms of the inmates who have accepted God.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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