Thou shalt not blend church and state, new Minnesota jail is told

DULUTH — The new Itasca County jail includes a two-story display of the Ten Commandments, a choice that’s come under fire by many who discovered it and other religious quotes on the walls during recent tours of the northeast Minnesota facility.

The display was so overwhelming it made Grand Rapids resident Dana Butler tremble, she said, while she walked through the new $75 million jail last week.

“The whole time I was thinking if I were in here, it would be very clear to me that I was not in a safe place,” she said.

The Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation has fielded 20 complaints, it said, many contending that the displays are unconstitutional. It sent a letter this week to the county asking it to investigate and remove the displays. “Repaint and repent,” the group said in a press release.

Itasca County Sheriff Joe Dasovich, who took the role in 2023, said he didn’t make the decision to install the words, but he took responsibility for it. He’s weighing the decision to remove the religious displays but said he’s heard an overwhelming call to keep them.

A social media post from the pastor of the Grand Rapids Solid Rock Church of God called on people to tell the Itasca County Board to leave the jail quotes as they are. The post said a “group of atheists” wanted them painted over.

When Dasovich first saw the walls, “I knew that it would cause people to feel a certain way,” he said, but he didn’t sense there would be opposition from inmates because voluntary faith-based programs offered at the jail are well-attended.

Jail administrator Lucas Thompson, who Dasovich credited for the jail’s efficient, “well-thought out model,” was responsible for overseeing the project.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation argues that the religious displays violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment, which says government must remain neutral about religion. One quote painted on cell block walls and attributed to former President Ronald Reagan reads, “Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.”

“What the county has essentially done is to say to these inmates ... that if they want the answers to their woes, it has to come from the Bible,” said Hirsh Joshi, a legal fellow with the foundation who wrote the letter to the county.

And it’s a captive audience, he said, with no way to avoid the apparent proselytizing.

Last year, county government fielded complaints about a different constitutional controversy: an under-the-radar county board approval of a gun-rights resolution stating opposition to new laws that would infringe on Second Amendment rights.

“This is government imposing religion” on incarcerated people who still have rights, he said. “It’s pretty audacious and pretty reckless.”

Grand Rapids’ Grace Bible Chapel Pastor Greg Rhodea said that as a Christian he likes the inclusion of the Ten Commandments, but he understands why those with other beliefs may not.

“What I dislike the most is the way this gets everybody on edge against each other in the community,” he said. “My ultimate goal is to serve the Lord and love our neighbors.”

Aside from the overt religious tone, some have pointed out that a few quotes are inaccurately attributed. One credited to the first U.S. president, George Washington, was actually said by George Washington Carver, a Black scientist and inventor.