## Facts

- Wisconsin correctional authorities contracted with multiple Milwaukee halfway houses to which parole officers could refer parole violators as an alternative to reincarceration.
- Faith Works Milwaukee, Inc. was one contracted provider whose rehabilitation program included explicit Christian teaching and encouragement to form a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
- Parole officers could recommend a specific halfway house, but the offender could choose any contracted provider.
- Faith Works’s program lasted about nine months, while secular alternatives generally lasted about three months; the state viewed the longer duration as rehabilitatively beneficial and waived usual bidding requirements to contract with Faith Works.
- When Faith Works was recommended, parole officers disclosed that it was a Christian institution and were required to offer a secular halfway house option.
- Wisconsin reimbursed part of the cost of the contracted halfway house selected by the offender.
- The Freedom from Religion Foundation and individual Wisconsin taxpayers sought to enjoin state payments to Faith Works, alleging unconstitutional state support of religion.

## Issues

1. Whether Wisconsin violated the Establishment Clause by reimbursing costs for a Christian halfway house when parolees were offered secular alternatives and funding flowed only if the parolee chose the religious program.

## Decision

- The Seventh Circuit affirmed the judgment for the state officials and Faith Works.
- The court held the Establishment Clause was not violated because attendance at a religious rather than secular halfway house resulted from the parolee’s independent choice.
- The court rejected the claim that parolees lacked a meaningful choice, emphasizing that recommendations were nonbinding, accompanied by disclosure of the religious character, and paired with an offered secular alternative.
- The court found no evidence parole officers steered offenders to Faith Works for religious reasons and accepted the state’s preference for a longer program as a secular correctional judgment.
- The court analogized the arrangement to “private choice” funding upheld in voucher cases: any benefit to religion was indirect and depended on participant selection within a neutral set of options.

## Legal Principles

- Government funding does not constitute an establishment of religion when it reaches a religious provider only through the independent and voluntary choices of eligible participants offered genuine secular alternatives.
- A neutral program offering multiple providers, including secular options, reduces the risk that government is endorsing or coercing religious participation.
- Nonbinding recommendations by state officials do not alone establish unconstitutional endorsement where the state provides full information about religious content and maintains a secular alternative.
- A secular justification for contracting decisions (e.g., program duration and rehabilitative aims) supports constitutionality when the state is not selecting a provider to advance religious exercise.

## Conclusion

Wisconsin’s partial reimbursement of a Christian halfway house did not violate the Establishment Clause because the state offered parolees a neutral range of contracted placements, required secular alternatives, and any funding of the religious program occurred only through the parolee’s voluntary selection rather than state coercion or religious favoritism.


Freedom from Religion Found., Inc. v. McCallum, 324 F.3d 880 (7th Cir. 2003)