01: Chrysalis is a unique faith-based social service program that provides recipients with alternatives to the majority of programs with a Christian orientation.
A key issue surrounding faith-based social services is providing recipients with enough choices to ensure that their religious freedom is not jeopardized. Chrysalis , devised by Rev. Laurie Etter, chaplain of York Correctional Institution in Connecticut, brings 32 women inmates together from five different faith groups — Protestant, Catholic, Native American, Wicca, and Muslim. The participants in the trial program, which lasts for six months, attend group discussions and individually meet with community volunteers who serve as mentors.
Because Etter’s program is multi-faith and open to all prisoners, it would not be subject to legal scrutiny and possible litigation in state prisons as might be the case with Christian-only programs, according to one prison official.
(Source: Stamford Advocate, March 10)
