VALUES CONSERVATISM

Today:

Florida's governor ousted the head of the state prison system Friday after the man was named in a wide-ranging investigation into possible criminal activity among prison employees.

State Corrections Secretary James Crosby, a former warden, had led the nation's third-largest corrections system since January 2003....

A spokesman for the governor confirmed that Crosby was a subject of an investigation into allegations against prison employees that have included steroid abuse [and] sexual assaults....

December 30, 2003:

A state prison near Jacksonville, Fla., has become the nation's first "faith-based" jailhouse, combining spirituality with hard time.

At the revamped 800-man Lawtey Correctional Institution in northern rural Florida, inmates who are nearing release and have had clean records for at least the past 12 months will be involved in activities such as prayer sessions, religious studies, choir practice and religious counseling seven days a week.

...Sterling Ivey, spokesman for the Florida Department of Corrections ... said the idea for Lawtey's new mission came from state Corrections Secretary James V. Crosby.

Mr. Crosby proposed the idea to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who was "enthralled," said Mr. Ivey. The governor says he and his older brother, President Bush, share the view that the best way to rehabilitate criminals is to "lead them to God." ...