Wingspread Christian Ministries, headquartered in Prairie Grove, Ark., and operated by Illinois-based Evangelists for Christ Inc., filed the lawsuit Wednesday (Feb. 11) in U.S. District Court in Muskogee.   Prison restrictions on prisoners’ correspondence violate the First and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and Oklahoma’s Religious Freedom Act, the 12-page lawsuit petition claims.  “Restricting Wingspread’s freedom of speech and religion is not only harmful to our constitutional rights, it is also very harmful to those within prison walls in need of spiritual sustenance,” said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, a Charlottesville, Va.-based civil liberties organization, which represents the plaintiffs … Wingspread sends similar religious materials to prisoners in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, New York and Texas but “has not encountered restrictions upon and impediments to its ministry similar to those encountered in Oklahoma,” the lawsuit states.

According to the suit, Oklahoma prison regulations mandate that “all orders for publications will be made directly to the publisher of the material or to a legitimate bookstore.”  The regulation does not allow a ministry to send Bibles or other religious materials; only a publisher, bookstore or book dealer may do so, according to the plaintiffs.

Discussions about reducing the number of chaplains began last summer, and the department released 16 part-timers at the beginning of January.  That leaves 30 chaplains — 18 full-time and 12 part-time — to counsel and provide services for 55,000 inmates and prison employees in 33 prisons. Not every prison has its own chaplain as some travel to various prisons. Volunteers from various religious groups help them …

Protestant Christians made up 61 percent of inmates admitted in 2008, according to the Department of Corrections. Those claiming no religion were 18 percent, Catholic Christians were about 4 percent, Muslims about 2 percent. There was a smattering of other faiths, such as Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Buddhists.

Trilochan S. Oberoi, a devout Sikh, has never cut his hair (including facial hair), in accordance with the mandates of his faith. He served 26 years in India’s Navy and 10 years in the merchant marines before immigrating to Folsom, CA in 2001. During that time, he was required to use several types of gasmasks and respirators. His beard had never been an impediment.When Mr. Oberoi applied for a correctional officer job, however, CDCR told him that he must appear clean-shaven for a gasmask fit test. According to the agency, correctional officers cannot wear gasmasks properly unless they are clean-shaven. When Mr. Oberoi told CDCR that he could not shave for the gasmask fit test, CDCR refused to hire him …

The court found that CDCR discriminated against Mr. Oberoi because it refused to even attempt to explore possible accommodations for Mr. Oberoi’s unshorn beard. Accommodations for beards were likely available, the court said, because CDCR grants employees medical exceptions to its no-beard rule …

“I feel vindicated,” said Mr. Oberoi. “I wanted to serve the State of California as honorably as I had served India. I thought the job would be a great fit. I was shocked at how I was treated.” Sikhism is the fifth largest religion worldwide. Sikhs are mandated to leave all hair on their bodies uncut, tying the hair on their heads underneath a turban.

Like most state departments, those agencies are under Gov. Sonny Perdue’s order to trim at least 6 percent from their budgets to help the state cope with a projected $2 billion deficit in the current year’s spending plan.  Sen. Mitch Seabaugh, chairman of the committee, questioned whether the Board of Pardons and Paroles should be using taxpayer money to notify crime victims that they are entitled to restitution payments from parolees. The six positions that handle those notifications, among other services for victims, cost $257,880 … On the prison side, the Department of Corrections spends $2.2 million on 18 full-time and 31 part-time chaplains who counsel and minister to inmates. Commissioner James Donald said he plans to cut part-timers from the staff, a roughly $1.2 million savings.

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