Lawsuit about sacred items that were taken

[Truth Seeker]

Dear concerned reader,

I received a letter from a friend who is currently an inmate in AL, and who has been following the religion/spirituality/path of the Lakota (Lakota-Indian Way) for years. He is about to go ahead with a lawsuit (it has passed summary judgement stages, getting ready for a trial before a federal judge), about his sacred items that were taken from him by an employee of the prison in his individual capacity (not his official one) when he was moved to another prison (in 2004, the items were never returned).

My friend is in need of persons willing to testify and provide expert testimony or affidavits that “these sacred items are just that Sacred”, especially about the pipe and things used with the pipe. He needs possibly a Pro Bono lawyer who would be willing to help him fight this denial of his religious rights, and anyone willing to give physical or material help in Fighting the deliberate denial of his Religious rights.

I hope someone is able t give some advice or information on where to go from here.
Thank you,
Respectfully,
Abelle

[Wingy]

Below is a link for the lawsuit of Trapp vs. DeBois, a precident setting lawsuit for native rights in Massachusetts

http://www.umass.edu/legal/derrico/trapp/

I also have a copy of the sacred articles now allowed in Massachusetts state corrections facilities.

maybe these can help you somehow.

Does your friend have a spiritual advixor? Perhaps he can get the items returned to his spiritual advisor Unless the state your freind is incarcerated has previoiusly defined what is allowed, you have some hard work ahead of you.

As always, contact your local AIM chapter, or your friends tribe

[windsage4]

http://www.dlncoalition.org/contact.htm You could get in touch with DLN Coalition, they advocate on behalf of prisoners and they do a lot of legal stuff too.

[Valentina]

There is an Indian law clinic at the U of Arizona. They might be able to help. Best of luck.

[Aya]

Hiya

It gotta be more to this story than meets the eye as is theft when not taken in official capacity. This is a thing that very often happends when a inmate gets transferred to another unit or pen for that matter. On other thing that is worth mentioning is the fact that a lawsuit may cause him extra trouble. Don't get me wrong, it is not at all OK that this is done but maybe this can be solved outside any court. As Wingy pointed out, a good start is always to get in touch with the local chapter of AIM to get some real good support. By the way are your friend a Lakota? Cause if not it can be a thing that may be used against him, JFYI.
Feel free to PM me as I am certain things can be resolved way easier.

[Truth Seeker]

Thank you all those who helped! I am going to check the websites and find an Alabama AIM chapter (or in the vicinity), once I am home from work.
The facility has guidelines for sacred articles, which he sent me, along with a copy of the items taken, and this happened in 2004 already. I think he must have tried to get the articles back via grievances, before heading to court. My friend is one of the leaders of the circle, so I am not sure if he has a spiritual leader.

Thank you also for the link to MA, I will send it to him!
Yes I think this happens a lot and it is very sad, so I am doing my best to help him. He is not by birth a Lakota but he has followed their spiritual path for years already (he is not from AL either), going to or even leading (but I may be wrong here) sweatlodges too.
I will let you know how it goes, but the date is in december so it will be a while.
Thanks!
Abelle