May, 25 2010, 03:35pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
(202) 466-3234,Joe Conn,Rob Boston,Sandhya Bathija
Stay Away From 'Christians-Only' Prison Scheme, Americans United Tells Officials In Three States
Americans United for Separation of Church and State today warned
corrections officials in three states not to use public funds to send
inmates to a proposed "Christians-only" prison in Oklahoma.
Corrections Concepts, Inc., has proposed building a private prison in
Wakita, Okla., that will indoctrinate prisoners in fundamentalist
Christianity and will be staffed solely with "born-again" Christians.
WASHINGTON
Americans United for Separation of Church and State today warned
corrections officials in three states not to use public funds to send
inmates to a proposed "Christians-only" prison in Oklahoma.
Corrections Concepts, Inc., has proposed building a private prison in
Wakita, Okla., that will indoctrinate prisoners in fundamentalist
Christianity and will be staffed solely with "born-again" Christians.
The Dallas, Texas-based firm recently announced that discussions are
under way with corrections officials in Oklahoma, Kansas and California
about signing contracts to house prisoners. In response, attorneys with
Americans United wrote to officials in the three states, advising them
that using public funds to send inmates to the sectarian facility would
likely spark legal action.
Americans United asserts it would be unconstitutional for government
to support a prison that indoctrinates inmates in one faith and limits
hiring based on religion.
"Taxpayers 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 letters to corrections officials, AU attorneys pointed out that a
federal appeals court in 2007 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."
The AU letters to Oklahoma,
Kansas
and California
were signed by Americans United Legal Director Ayesha N. Khan and AU
Staff Attorney Ian Smith.
Corrections Concepts founder Bill 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.
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
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US Dodges Growing Calls for Probe of Mass Graves at Gaza Hospitals
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Apr 24, 2024
While continuing to give Israel billions of dollars in support to wage war on the Gaza Strip, the Biden administration this week has declined to join the growing global demands for an international probe into mass graves discovered at hospitals in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Two journalists on Tuesday questioned Vedant Patel, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, about the administration's response to the hundreds of bodies found at Gaza City's al-Shifa Hospital and Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis as well as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk's call for an independent investigation.
"Would you support such an independent investigation?" Said Arikat asked during a press briefing. Patel responded, "Right now, Said, we are asking for more information... That is squarely where we are leaving the conversation."
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When Said asked a follow-up about potential U.S. support for a probe, Patel reiterated that the administration is awaiting information from the Israeli government.
Later, Niall Stanage asked Patel to explain U.S. "resistance" to supporting a probe, the spokesperson insisted that "it's not about resistance to this particular situation, it is me not wanting to speak in detail about something which Said posed as a hypothetical question when, from the United States' perspective, I don't have any additional information on this aside from the public reporting."
After Patel again stressed that the administration has asked Israel for more information, Stanage inquired, "And do you believe the government of Israel is a credible source in enlightening you?"
The spokesperson interrupted Stanage to say, "We do."
While supporting the six-month Israeli assault on Gaza that the International Court of Justice has found to be plausibly genocidal, the Biden administration is also arming Ukrainians' resistance to a Russian invasion. Brian Finucane, a senior adviser for the Crisis Group's U.S. program and a former legal adviser at the State Department, pointed to the latter.
"Somehow I don't think the U.S. State Department would defer to Russia as a credible source to investigate itself if a mass grave were discovered in Ukrainian territory it had occupied," Finucane said on social media in response to Stanage's questioning.
Meanwhile, European Union spokesperson Peter Stano made clear Tuesday that the E.U. supports an independent probe.
"This is something that forces us to call for an independent investigation of all the suspicions and all the circumstances, because indeed it creates the impression that there might have been violations of international human rights committed," Stano said. "That's why it's important to have independent investigation and to ensure accountability."
Human rights groups around the world joined the call for an independent investigation on Wednesday, as the official death toll in Gaza hit 34,262 with 77,229 people injured and thousands more missing and presumed dead beneath the rubble.
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The group added that some of those killed were subjected to "premeditated murder as well as arbitrary and extrajudicial executions while they were detained and handcuffed."
Amnesty International senior director of research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns Erika Guevara Rosas said in a statement that "the harrowing discovery of these mass graves underscores the urgency of ensuring immediate access for human rights investigators, including forensic experts, to the occupied Gaza Strip to ensure that evidence is preserved and to carry out independent and transparent investigations with the aim of guaranteeing accountability for any violations of international law."
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Mass grave sites are potential crime scenes offering vital and time-sensitive forensic evidence; they must be protected until professional forensic experts with the necessary skills and resources can safely carry out adequate exhumations and accurate identification of remains.
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Today, Novo Nordisk is charging patients in the United States up to 15 times more for Ozempic and Wegovy than it charges patients in Canada, Europe, or Japan. For example, your company charges $969 in the United States for one month of Ozempic but just $155 in Canada and just $59 in Germany. Further, Novo Nordisk charges Americans $1,349 for one month Wegovy but just $140 in Germany and just $92 in the United Kingdom.
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This is a developing story... Please check back for possible updates...
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The protesters walked out of their classes to demand UT divest from weapons manufacturers in order to end its complicity in Israel's U.S.-backed assault on Gaza, which has killed at least 34,262 Palestinians.
Student-run newspaper The Daily Texanreported roughly 50 state troopers were deployed to stop the initial protest of about 150-200 people.
Ryan Chandler, a reporter for NBC affiliate KXAN-TV and UT alum, reported that there were at least 10 students detained.
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The students faced the state troopers in a standoff on the university's main street.
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