Nebraska Chooses Tolerance
In America 'religious tolerance' seems to mean 'we'll tolerate your religion as long as it's the same as mine...'
--ryan
Nebraska Reaches Agreement with American Indian Inmates on Religious Needs
Thursday November 11, 2004
By KEVIN O'HANLON
http://www.wbz1030.com/apnational/IndianInmates-aa/resources_news_html
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) Nebraska prison officials have agreed to new rules
to accommodate the religious and cultural needs of American Indian
inmates in order to settle a federal court complaint.
The agreement, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, requires
prison officials to allow American Indian inmates to freely conduct
religious ceremonies, hold two powwows a year and have access to
medicine men, among other concessions.
The new rules stem from a complaint filed on behalf of the prison
system's approximately 200 American Indian inmates by Richard T.
Walker, an American Indian who's serving a life sentence for murder.
He alleged in Lincoln federal court that prison officials made so
many demands for qualifications on a medicine man that he stopped
coming to prison to conduct religious and cultural affairs.
Walker also alleged that officials required the medicine man to be
able to ``acclimate'' to the religious needs of other inmates,
including Christians and Muslims.
A federal judge must approve the settlement before it can take
effect. The new rules would replace a 1974 consent decree.
Prison officials also agreed to give American Indian inmates time for
religious education and worship ceremonies. The inmates can use
traditional foods such as fry bread and corn in their ceremonies.
Tobacco is banned in the prison system, but the inmates may use
chinshasha, from the bark of red willow trees, as a substitute in
their ceremonies.
Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Tomka, who helped reach the
settlement, was not in her office because of the Veterans' Day
holiday and could not be reached for comment. She argued earlier that
prison officials have gone out of their way to accommodate American
Indian inmates.
posted by ryan @ 03:23
1 Comments:
UPDATE:
Deal sets rules for Native inmates
By KEVIN O'HANLON / The Associated Press
http://www.journalstar.com
State prison officials have agreed to new rules to accommodate the
religious and cultural needs of Native inmates in order to settle a
federal court action.
The settlement agreement, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press,
arose from a complaint filed by inmate Richard T. Walker, a Native
sentenced in Thurston County to a life term in 1966 for second-degree
murder.
His complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Lincoln on behalf
of the prison system's approximately 200 Native inmates.
Among Walker's allegations was a claim that prison officials made so
many demands for qualifications on a medicine man that he stopped
coming to the prison to conduct religious and cultural affairs
services for the state's Native inmates.
Walker also alleged that prison officials required the medicine man
to be able to "acclimate" to the religious needs of other inmates,
including Christians and Muslims.
The settlement agreement would replace a 1974 consent decree signed
by U.S. District Judge Warren Urbom requiring prison officials to
allow Native inmates to conduct religious ceremonies and have access
to medicine men and ceremonial tobacco.
Urbom must approve the settlement before it can take effect.
The consent decree, many argued, was diluted by the 1996 Prison
Litigation Reform Act, which was meant to reduce the number of inmate
lawsuits.
Courts often have responded to inmate lawsuits over prison conditions
by ordering state officials to relieve those that violate some
constitutional right.
Congress enacted the 1996 law out of its concern that federal courts
were intruding too far into state prison management. The law limits a
judge's power to order changes in conditions of confinement "no
further than necessary to correct the violation of the federal right
of a particular plaintiff or plaintiffs."
Under the law, remedies must be the "least intrusive means necessary"
to correct any violation.
"The consent decree … lost a lot of its usefulness after the
enactment of the" 1996 law, said Bassel El-Kasaby, one of the lawyers
representing the inmates. "We thought it was in the interests of the
inmates to create this new framework."
In the proposed settlement, prison officials agreed to allow Native
inmates to have two powwows a year and give them time for religious
education and worship ceremonies.
The inmates also can use traditional, ceremonial foods such as fry
bread, corn and "berry dish" in their ceremonies.
The inmates agreed to not use tobacco — which is banned in the prison
system — in their ceremonies. But prison officials will let them use
chinshasha, which is made from the bark of red willow trees, as a
substitute.
Prison officials also agreed to allow the reinstatement of the Native
American Club and allow access to medicine men and other spiritual
leaders.
Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Tomka, who helped reach the
settlement, was not in her office because of Veterans Day and could
not be reached to comment.
But she had argued earlier that prison officials had gone out of
their way to accommodate Native inmates. She said, for example, that
inmates were allowed to proceed with their religious ceremonies even
when a medicine man failed to show up to lead a ceremony.
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