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JULY 1ST, 2010 13:26
The best way to stop prisoners reoffending? Send evangelicals to proselytise them

Christianity cuts crime (Photo: Corbis)
At the risk of giving Richard Dawkins a heart attack, theres one man Ken Clarke, the Justice Secretary, really ought to meet, and hes Chuck Colson. The former Nixon advisor, who went to jail for his involvment in the Watergate scandal, has spent decades promoting evangelical Christianity to American prisoners. And its very clear that his work has cut crime.
In Texas, for example, reoffending dropped from 55 per cent to eight per cent for those who took part in his InnerChange prison programme. Officials are effusive with praise. Joan Fabian, the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Corrections said: I was skeptical in the beginning, but it is one of the best things that weve done in our system. I think its a program that is just the right one when nothing else worked.
Some evangelicals have tried to expand this programme into Britain, most notably into Dartmoor Prison. The organisers who went into that prison claimed that the prisoners on the scheme saw their outlook, their behaviour, even their appearance undergo transformation in most cases. That didnt stop InnerChange being booted out, after huge opposition from quangocrats, who see Christianity as intolerant of homosexuals and other religions.
Well, despite the efforts of friends, I dont believe in God, and I also have libertarian social views. But Im concerned about what works, and if Christianity can provide a crutch that stops convicts falling back into a life of mugging and robbing everyone else, who cares if the religions true, or even if its a bit un-PC?