Religious Freedom: Prisons

The gist of the article is that the Supremes have decided that if a prisoner wants an item that is for religious use, the state must provide it for them.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sided with Ohio inmates who worship Satan and the Norse god Thor by upholding a law that guarantees religious freedom for prisoners.

The state of Ohio, which denied requests by inmates who wanted to bring in ritual objects including quartz crystals and drinking horns, claimed some of the implements jeopardized prison safety.

They failed to mention the knives or other objects that could be used to kill others. I don't see any reason to object to this other than to ask where the line is drawn. Oh, Oh, my religion needs gold plated AK-47s with armor piercing ammunition. Since they conveniently don't draw any lines for assuring the safety of other's, you know protecting their rights, I wonder who will be tasked with making those decisions and then have to fight in court to get the Supremes then to decide what is reasonable.

But the attorney who argued Ohio's case before the Supreme Court, Solicitor Douglas R. Cole, said the prisoners aren't likely to get their coveted ceremonial objects anytime soon.

He plans to pose a different constitutional argument in further legal challenges: that Congress lacks authority to pass such a law. If that bid fails, he will argue that individual items requested by inmates, such as ceremonial daggers, threaten prison security.

"We're encouraged that the court recognized there are safety issues involved in making these accommodation decisions, and that courts need to defer to prison administrators on the balance between accommodation and safety," Cole said.

Although Cole expressed confidence that many of the denials will be upheld on safety grounds, he explained the state pursued broader challenges to the law because "even having this statute on the books is an invitation for prisoners to make all kinds of requests, and each of those requests becomes a drain on prison resources as they get evaluated."

Well, I suppose they could set up an area for all religious rites. That way they would have some place where the only people threatened by the sacramental knives and the like are the prisoners worshipping.

That also leads one to the question of proper handling of these religious articles. Look at the abominations at GITMO when military personnel stood over a Koran. Imagine the outrage when that sacrificial knife gets tossed in the weapons locker without first being cleansed with the blood of a virgin.

Without setting any bounds on the decision, this all comes down to a major CF for the people who will actually have to work with this mess.