Editor's note: State officials announced in June that they had also agreed to refrain from using public funds to support religious activities, settling the federal lawsuit over programs run by the Firm Foundation at the Bradford County jail.

SCRANTON, Pa. — A county agreed to refrain from using public funds to support religious activities in the settlement of a federal lawsuit over a jailhouse program that allegedly mixed religion with vocational training.

The settlement filed April 3 in U.S. District Court in Scranton ended the lawsuit filed over programs run by the Firm Foundation at the Bradford County jail.

Lawyers for Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania were among those representing six local citizens who filed suit in February 2005. They claimed the company’s employees proselytized inmates in a former work-release program and pressured them to pray.

Bradford County admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement. The county agreed not to use public funds to support religious activities or maintain buildings primarily used for religious activities.

The settlement also said that publicly funded programs should not discriminate based on religion in providing services.

Both sides claimed victory.

The deal “simply was far more reasonable than what we expected,” said Larry Crain, an attorney representing the county. “It did not ask anything of us simply than what the law simply required.”

The Firm Foundation program was the only vocational training program available at the jail, and the company’s arrangement with the county was unconstitutional, said Alex Luchenitser, a lawyer for Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Clark Moeller, one of the plaintiffs, said the case was important because “it is representative of incidents going on around the country.”

“There’s billions of dollars channeled into faith-based groups,” said Moeller, who has since moved to Massachusetts. “Many are very well-intended, many are very uninformed on church-state separation and the importance of civil rights.”

The prison program started in 2002 but ended three years later because of insufficient funding, said Steven Aden, a lawyer for The Firm Foundation.

“This came as something of a surprise to us,” Aden said about the settlement. “It appears to be an acknowledgment on the part of the plaintiffs that they had no case.”

Related lawsuits against the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and The Firm Foundation are still pending.

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was initially named a co-defendant, but plaintiffs dropped their claims against him last week. Luchenitser said the U.S. Justice Department “was much more removed from the controversy than the other defendants.”

The program was designed to take prisoners out of jail during the day to teach construction skills and mentor inmates about how to manage money, deal with anger and other life skills, Aden said.