The ‘God Pod’ in the Pierce County Jail was started in 2000.  It was set up as a Christian ministry operating within the jail.  It operated successfully for 10 years.

In 2010 several Muslim inmates filed grievances against the jail on religious issues.  This is a routine process that requires staff to respond to the allegations contained in the grievance and attorneys to review the information.  Most grievances result in very little change.

Also in 2010 a judge’s decision in a lawsuit in Federal court in Iowa stated, among other things, that in order to have a unit set aside for a religious program the facility would have to provide a comparable secular unit.

Due mostly to the grievances and the Iowa case the jail administration decided to pull the plug on the God Pod.  They turned it into a secular Responsible Living Unit.  Under the new rules staff and volunteers are not allowed to promote any religion.  We aren’t allowed to preach the gospel in the unit except during the two religious service times each week.

The Muslim’s grievances became a lawsuit that was filed in September, 2010.  On of the charges in this suit is that the Christians had a God Pod but the Muslims didn’t.  At the time of the filing of the lawsuit, that was not true.  But that’s a matter for the attorneys to sort out.

We’re not giving up.  We want our God Pod back.  Until then we still have all of the religious freedoms that every inmate and volunteer have.  If asked, we can answer any questions about the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ or our faith.  But that’s not enough.

Having been part of something as wonderful and effective as the God Pod it’s difficult to let it go without a fight.  More on that later…