The prison alliance between church and state serves 800 inmates in Lawtey and another 600 men and women in religious-based dorms at nine other state prisons.

Inmates volunteer to live at Lawtey, with warden and chaplains making the final selection based on a person's good behavior and release date, which generally come within 18 months.

"When you come to a faith-based dorm, it's not just you. You've got 80 some inmates helping you out, to get through this," said William Browning of Fort Lauderdale, who is serving time in Lawtey for selling and possessing drugs. "A year ago, I was by myself, didn't talk to nobody. Now, you don't go to an officer, you go to another inmate to work out your differences."

In one area of the facility, a group of inmates is praying and chanting in a circle. In another section, community meeting nights are held, featuring inmates in a band playing gospel music.

Critics of the program ask whether Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is taking a financial risk by assuming that recidivism would be lower among inmates who have turned to God. Others, including state legislators, question whether Christian inmates at Lawtey will receive special treatment.

Over the past four years, the state has spent $7 million on faith-based prisons. The funding includes the creation of dorms and the salaries of 102 chaplains, as well as faith-based mentoring, life-skills classes, and addiction treatment.

Advocates of the programs said the culture would motivate inmates to change their behavior so they don't return to a life of drugs and crime.

"I think it will work," said Bush. "We're going to measure it and study it and make sure that's the case."

But Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State in Washington, D.C., said the faith-based prison is "a clearly unconstitutional scheme." His group and others have filed a request to examine the prison operations and are considering a lawsuit.

"A state can no more create a faith-based prison than it could set up faith-based public schools or faith-based police departments," Lynn said.

Bush said the criticisms are premature and unjustified. "I've read the concerns by the American Civil Liberties Union and Barry Lynn and the likely suspects that would be reflexively opposed to something like this," the governor said. "I think there is a response to each one of their concerns. I believe this prison will yield a positive result. It's not a threat to other people's rights."

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