Denied Religious Rights at Larned Kansas
I arrived at Larned Mental Health Correctional Facility on January 25th 2018. A week or two after I arrived I submitted a Form 9 and notified the chaplain of my religious preference at this point I was placed on the Moorish Science Temple of America Callout. I attended it until it was shut down due to lack of members. A religion I’ve faithfully been attending since 2006 and K.D.O.C. records show this. Now since I arrived at this facility for some reason they have made my stay very uncomfortable.
As an individual I don’t indulge in any of the extracurricular activities such as drugs, etc or causing other people problems. I do my best to focus self, family, and God. For some reason this facility has made that hard. First they began taking my belongings by search and seizure leaving me with nothing because I had no receipt. At this point I feel I became a target. Most of my items were personal care products such as soap, toothpaste, deodorant, etc. The guards began to joke about this which really was not funny. Throughout all of this I was going through a very stressful court process with my kids being taken from their mother. I began to get real irritable so I tried to do what I thought was right by going and talking to mental health. You won’t believe the result of that. They put me in the hole, took all of my belongings once again, wrote me up and took my visits. I was just trying to do the right thing by talking to someone before I lost my temper and affected another person.
After that I told myself I was just gonna focus on God. Then the situation with my religion became an even bigger problem. After my religion was changed without my consent they continued to ignore my requests or properly address them. They denied me participation of requested religious events and continued to address me as Native American. That went on for some time. Then after they so-called fixed my religion due to computer error it continued to be an issue cause they refused to let me out for Ramadan which at this time was meal time, resulting in me going without adequate nutrition for several days. They would only let me out for the evening Ramadan callout for meal time. So if I wanted to eat in the morning I would have to break my fast which was very embarrassing cause I rely on the meals K.D.O.C. provides for me.
At this point I knew I had to do something about the issue at hand. I felt very hurt, frustrated and depressed. I was dealing with this at the same time I was losing my kids which really made it worse. I feel like they have taken enough from me at this facility and I refuse to let them take a privilege and a right to further my relationship with God. Something I hold close to my heart. Therefore I filed a 1983 in federal court. I don’t want anybody to experience what I’ve had to go through at this facility concerning my right to choose a religion of my choice and it be respected. Or be denied the right to attend an enlisted religious function. God provides good guidance for one’s life and that should never be denied. No matter a person’s religion of choice or denomination.
