Transgender Inmate Sues Men-Only Prison Over Right to Practice Wicca

Transgender inmate wants one dollar from each prison chaplain after she was denied the right to practice Wicca.

The Lanesboro Correctional Institution has been pressured to meet the requirements of a transgender inmate who filed a lawsuit against the federal establishment. According to the inmate’s lawyer, his client feels that his constitutional right to observe a religion has been violated, prison officials denying him to practice Wicca.

Wicca Transgender Inmate Asked for Ritualistic Items, Prison Officials Declared

A Lanesboro Correctional Institution spokesperson declared that Jennifer Ann Jasmaine, a transgender inmate, formerly called Duane L. Fox, has filed a lawsuit against the all-male prison, claiming that her religious needs aren’t met.

Jasmaine, who’s currently serving a 16-year sentence for second-degree sexual battery, stated that the correctional facility holds inmates of all color, creeds, and religions. More than that, Native American and Christian inmates are allowed to practice their religions while the administration denied hers on more than one occasion.

According to Jasmaine’s lawyer, her client is a Wicca adept, an ancient religion, predating Christianity. Jasmaine, like any other religious person, practices her rituals once or twice each week.

Before filing the lawsuit against the correctional facility, the inmate was directed to signing a religious assistance request. One of the prison’s spokesperson declared that state policy dictates that inmates are free to practice any form of religion recognized by the prison system.

Given that Jasmaine’s religion is an exotic one and, therefore, not recognized by the prison system, she was forced to sign the ‘acknowledgment’ document. However, according to the Wiccan inmate, months have passed since she forwarded the request, with no answer in sight.

Conclusion

The transgender inmate’s lawyer also declared that the prison’s requisition officer refused to fill out Jasmaine’s request for religious items, clothes, and special food.

According to the inmate’s lawyer, Jasmaine seeks a trial and one dollar in damages from each chaplain.

Image source: Wikipedia

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Nancy Young

When I was younger I used to spend almost all of my free time playing computer games. My mom and dad would go mental over this. “You’re never going to do anything with your life if you are going to play games all day” they used to say. What was even more unusual was the fact that I played more games than most of the guys in my friend group. Looking back, I have to admit that I probably played a bit too much, but I also learned a lot of great things. When I turned 20 I decided that it was high-time to make some money of my own, but the only jobs I could get were that of waitress or cashier. How exciting. After several excruciating months of serving tables I had a great idea: since I love gaming so much, why don’t I write about it? That’s when I started doing small writing projects on Elance. Eventually, I got an offer for a part-time job. During that time I learned all about content marketing strategies and how search engines work. I started writing about various topics such as technology, health and lifestyle and discovered that I was actually good at it. On November 24, 2014, I became part of the ArgyllFreePress team.