Senators cry foul after faith-based groups reportedly frozen out of prison program

A pair of Republican and Democratic U.S. senators recently questioned Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters about why several faith-based recidivism reduction programs have been rejected in recent years for operating in federal prisons.

Sens. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, and Gary Peters, D-Michigan, raised concerns in a Nov. 12 letter reviewed by CNA about what they see as a lack of transparency in the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) selection process for evidence-based recidivism reduction (EBRR) and productive activities (PA) programs.

Lankford and Peters called on the agency to provide information on the use of outside organizations for recidivism prevention programs, especially faith-based organizations.

At issue is the First Step Act (FSA), Signed into law by President Donald Trump during his first term in late 2018, the law provides funding for rehabilitation programs such as education, drug treatment and job training in federal prisons. The law was designed to reduce recidivism: former prisoners who return to prison for new crimes after serving their terms. The double act enjoyed support from many Catholics as a way to improve the country’s criminal justice system.

The FSA offers “a wide range of community-based, private and nonprofit program options” in federal prisons, including faith-based programs.

Specifically, it states that policies should be developed for prisons to partner with “nonprofits and other private organizations, including faith-based, arts and community-based organizations that will deliver recidivism reduction programs on a paid or voluntary basis.”

But since the passage of the FSA, the agency has approved some applications for new EBRR and PA programs, the senators noted, noting that “implementation of partnerships to reduce recidivism appears to be stalling.”

“(W)e learned through communications with BOP that since the FSA became law, BOP has received eight external faith-based applications. Of the eight external faith-based applications, five were rejected, two were approved, while another is still pending. To the best of our knowledge, the two approved are PAs, meaning there are no external faith-based EBRRs currently operating within BOP,” the letter said.

“These numbers are concerning, especially at a time when individuals within the BOP system are on waiting lists to participate in EBRR programming.”

Lankford and Peters requested documentation detailing the agency’s selection criteria, approval and rejection data for third-party applicants by entity type; Federal Bureau of Prisons Policy Regarding the FSA; and the results of a 2023 independent program assessment.

The senators did not identify which faith-based groups submitted applications that the agency rejected. They set a deadline of December 13 for the agency to send them the information they wanted.

A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed to another publication that it had received the senators’ letter but declined to comment further.