While on the Greyhound bus, I overheard people talking about being in jail, and they talked about being required to submit to religious instruction while in jail. They talked about jail in two different states, one being Utah. They were talking about religious instruction in the other state's jails, and then somebody brought up the fact that you have to submit to religious instruction in Utah jails, and she may have said it was worse than the other state, and she may have said it was Mormonism.

Religion instruction should not be required in jails. I know a jailbird who is a true believing Mormon, and I can't help but think that Mormon socialization in jail may have contributed to that belief, since he does not fit the typical Mormon stereotype.

If any jail *required* you submit to ANY "religious instruction," an inmate could sue the pants off the jail, and they'd win.

However, it wouldn't surprise me at all if there was persuasion to do so, perhaps even with vaguely stated promises of a shorter sentence or more consideration for parole if they did so.

At very least it gets a plus at a parole hearing if your padre says you are a changed person.

I could understand if some back-to-reality (life without crime) orientation was offered, sound, moral principles...

but NOT denominalized 'church' lessons/indoctrination.

They're either making stuff up or you misheard.

Inmates are permitted to participate in religious instruction. In many cases, this gets them out of their cells or the yard and into an air conditioned room, so they like to do it. But they are not *required* to do so.

Alpiner Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They're either making stuff up or you misheard.
>
> Inmates are permitted to participate in religious
> instruction. In many cases, this gets them out of
> their cells or the yard and into an air
> conditioned room, so they like to do it. But they
> are not *required* to do so.


No requirement. Exactly. There are many outreach programs in the prisons which involve religious people volunteering for short visits.

Exactly. I'm pretty sure that there are incentives for prisoners to attend religious services (it doesn't matter what kind), and that there are services in prison that they can attend, but there is no forced participating.

Around here TSCC won't have anything to do with anyone in prison. No visits, no nothing. Lucky not to get exed.

Hi rhdc
I have an active LDS friend who's parent's Senior Mission is visiting teaching to women prisoners at the state prison in Draper. They're not allowed to bring anything in, but they conveniently arrive when BOM study is scheduled.
The dad is a cool guy, the mom is kind of strange: my friend relayed that she doesn't remember being hugged as a child growing up. They are ÜBER TBM

I remember when I lived in Phoenix, I looked on mormon.org for the nearest ward to me. I lived close to the county jail, and they had a ward there for inmates....

In my area from what I've heard, the church doesn't want to have anything to do with people in jail or prison, and Mormons are lucky they're not exed while incarcerated. I found this out because my TBM ex had a friend who spent a brief time in jail for driving with a suspended license because of unpaid traffic fines.

I personally know two Mormons who teach Sunday school classes at the Utah State Prison. A TBM relative of mine teaches math to the inmates in that prison. The Mormon cult used to allow felons (just men) to be bussed to the singles dances, as many of the inmates were single Mormons, and looking for partners. They had to exhibit good behavior, to be issued a temporary pass for the night. They were shuttled back and forth to the dances in a bus. They came early, and those who arrived later didn't know who these men were.

I agree that the inmates get gold stars for church attendance, or some similar perk.

Now that would surely be "cruel and unusual punishment"!

Then there is the aggressive Islamic proselytizing in many prisons. Radical Islam is very good at coercing offenders away from alcohol, substance usage, and crime --really changing them --but at the cost of alienating them from bourgeois values.

Joseph Smith studied the Book of Mormon in jail (which sounds ridiculous considering that he had already written it). He peered at the text through the bottom of a wine bottle, and he stumbled and walked like a reformed Egyptian. "Don't bogart that bottle," said Hyrum, himself a high student of Mormon gospel. A lot of gospel was drunk, and then the door flew open. "Study time's over," said Joe, firing off a couple of balls. "Feets don't fail me now!" And out the widow he went.