Robinson recently told the Tulsa (Oklahoma) World that a bonding company had expressed interest in his project -- a private prison administered by Christian officials, attended to by Christian guards, adhering to Christian programming and stocked with Christian prisoners -- and that full funding for it depended upon states agreeing to send 285 prisoners to the facility.

Founded in 1898, Wakita (pronounced Wok-ih-taw) is located in Grant County. The town's 15-minutes came when it was featured in the 1996 movie Twister, starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton, in which it was destroyed by an F4 tornado. According to Wikipedia, "False fronts were built onto the existing store fronts for some shots and then were removed and replaced it with rubble in the streets after the tornado hit and the rest of the building was removed using CGI [computer-generation imagery]. Some buildings were demolished, but nothing was put in to replace them."

As might be expected, Robinson's proposal -- which has been spurned by several other small towns over the past few years -- has drawn the attention of church-state separation groups. On Tuesday, May 25, Americans United for Separation of Church and State sent a letter to corrections officials in California, Kansas and Oklahoma, advising them not to use public funds to send inmates to the proposed Christians-only prison in Oklahoma.

Not so fast, says Americans United

"Tax payers should never be forced to support religious indoctrination," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "This scheme is fraught with constitutional problems, and no state should subsidize it."

In the letters to corrections officials, Americans United attorneys -- Legal Director Ayesha N. Khan and Staff Attorney Ian Smith -- noted that in 2007, a federal appeals court struck down public funding of an evangelical Christian program at an Iowa prison. The Christian prison in Oklahoma, they say, would likely meet the same fate.

"If the Department were to provide funding to Corrections Concepts' prison, indoctrination would be the inevitable result...," Americans United asserted. "And, just as inevitably, the funding of such indoctrination would violate the Constitution."

According to the AU press release, "Robinson told the Tulsa World recently that the bonding company that has expressed interest in financing the project will not provide funds until states agree to send 285 prisoners to the facility, which is expected to have more than 600 beds."

Robinson first proposed the facility last year. At that time, Americans United wrote to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections and advised it not to back the scheme. Officials there replied that they had no interest in the project. But Robinson now says he has an expression of interest from the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs.

"The facility would be open to Christian inmates facing their last 12 to 30 months of incarceration before their earliest release date," EnidNews.com reported in early March.

"Residents sign an agreement with the management that states they will participate in all programs and employment and their worship practices will not be impugned," Robinson said.

According to EnidNews.com, "Inmates would work full time at private industries that operate inside the prison, receive job training and earn money, which would support their families, pay restitution to their victims, contribute to their own room and board and produce savings to be used upon their release."

Robinson said the facility will be owned by the town or the county, allowing those officials to contract directly with another government entity. The cost of housing an inmate is $42.80 a day, with annual increases tied to Consumer Price Index and other factors.

"Each inmate receives a needs assessment for counseling, education, health care and marketable-skill employment. Individualized programs are established to meet each inmate's needs. Counseling is a minimum of three hours per week per resident, with a counselor-to-patient ratio of 1 to 24 at the proposed 600-bed facility.

"Counseling covers drug and alcohol, family, sex or violence issues and offers therapy to meet an inmate's dysfunctional needs. Education offered is basic literacy, allowing inmates to take high school equivalency, vocational and technical and college-level courses."

The Tulsa World's Bill Sherman recently reported that "the project has the support of city leaders in Wakita," as well as some surrounding towns. The mayor of Enid, Oklahoma, the largest nearby city, has expressed support: "We'd be very supportive of it," said Enid Mayor John Criner. "We can't put any money into it, but I'd be more than happy to get him a resolution supporting the project." Mayor Arden Chaffee of nearby Alva, Oklahoma, thought that the proposed prison could have a positive effect on the area economy. "It sounds like a great idea. I just don't know if they can finance something like that, which is a Christian concept, with public money," he said.

In the meantime, while the entire project may not immediately come to fruition, there are signs that one part of it might see some daylight. According to the Tulsa World's Sherman, "The full plan calls for the adult male unit, a 600-inmate adult female unit, a 600-inmate juvenile unit and a 540-inmate geriatric unit, all in separate buildings on the Wakita campus."

CCI's Robinson told Sherman that the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs has expressed interest in the juvenile detention part of the project. Robert E. "Gene" Christian, the agency's executive director, "said that with the cuts at the L.E. Rader Center in Sand Springs, the state will need additional juvenile facilities and will be looking at several options. Once a state budget is set, his office will put out requests for proposals, and he anticipates the Wakita juvenile prison proposal will be among those, he said."

"There are some concerns, because it is Christian-based," said Christian. "Participation would be voluntary. We could not order them to go."

Exploiting prison labor

In a spirited -- sometimes informative and sometimes downright ugly -- discussion posted in the comments section, Bob Sloan, a prison-industries consultant who has been following and writing about Robinson's various proposals, including the latest "Christian-only" prison, for quite some time, managed to bring some serious thoughts about the exploitation of prison labor to the table:

I have fought against this proposed Christian prison idea for more than 15 years now. I am a Christian and also an ex-offender who worked inside one of the prison industries Mr. Robinson wants to include in his Christian prison. In recent days I have been inundated by emails from Robinson and one of his "volunteer" ex-offenders accusing me of being biased, defamatory and saying demeaning things about CCI and the Christian-themed prison complex he has been trying to get off the ground for all that time.

My opposition to this concept is two-fold: it is discriminatory to say the least. What's next a Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Afro-American prison? Staffed and housing only those inmates of like religion or race? Secondly, Mr. Robinson wants to use the federal PIECP program as a basis for his prison industry. That program -- while a great concept by our Congress -- is now being thoroughly abused by the participation of huge corporations like Microsoft, Victoria's Secret, Starbucks, Shelby Classic Cars and hundreds of others that use inmate labor to increase profits. For every prison job filled by an inmate one or more private sector jobs are lost. Maybe not in the same locality but lost all the same, with private sector employees having to go on welfare and unemployment rolls. Arguing with Robinson to not use PIECP and thereby teach his Christian inmates job skills without competing with and taking jobs from private sector business is like butting your head against the wall. For a full reading of the personal emails from Mr. Robinson and my responses please visit piecp-violations on the web (http://prison-labor.50megs.com/whats_new_2.html). There you can read up on where all of our jobs are going and why.

Corrections Concepts Inc.

According to its mission statement, Corrections Concepts Inc., 501(C)(3) non-profit organization, "was founded by a group of Christian ministers and laymen, with demonstrated expertise in correctional services, dedicated to improve the lives of persons incarcerated for crimes against society. Calling on the experiences and talents within the organization, CCI, through its Boards composed of former wardens, administrators, educators, vocational-training specialists, personnel managers and ministers, initiated a twenty-year program development which includes a comprehensive treatment approach."

Bill Robinson, the organization's founder has, according to his official bio, "worked for several years as an actor, writer, comedian, director, and producer.... [and] he bought, revamped, and sold radio stations, built and operated dinner theaters and was partner in an outdoor-advertising company with offices in nine states."

In 1962, he went to prison "for white-collar crimes to finance his high-rolling promoting lifestyle that included an all-consuming addiction to alcohol and drugs. He served seven and one-half years in prison 1962-1971. He was born again in March, 1980 and made Jesus Christ the Lord of his life in March, 1983. The Lord called him into the prison ministry in 1984."

In a column for NewsOk dated May 26, Robinson cited historical precedent (the establishment of public Christian hospitals) for arguing for his Christian-based prison:

If "visiting" the prisoner is as biblical as "visiting" the patient, why aren't there as many Christian-managed prisons as there are Christian-managed hospitals? Because many knew what a "successful" hospital looked like but no one has ever seen a "successful" prison. Success should mean returning criminals to society as contributing law-abiding citizens.

Many politicians go to their graves with unspent political capital while waiting on the better deal. That deal may come only once in a lifetime. Returning criminals to society as responsible, accountable and productive citizens could be the best deal. To do the right thing for the right reason requires capacity, concern, character and courage. Throughout history, leaders who have met those conditions have left legacies of undeniable impact.

Many citizens have become convinced spiritually, economically, statutorily, constitutionally and even politically that Habilitation House as proposed by the town of Wakita, with its community-oriented, nonprofit motives, is the right thing for the right reason. This 600-bed, faith-based/work-ethic, cost-effective, medium-security, re-entry facility would accommodate men in their last 12-30 months from release who volunteer to be transferred. They would be provided education, health care, counseling, wages for learning a marketable skill, a moral compass and mentorship upon release. This positive choice-making environment with its staff of dedicated role models further prepares the offender for successful reintegration.

Bill Robinson is hopeful that the lure of jobs to Wakita and an influx of new money to the area, will trump church-state separation issues.