Kentucky prison suspends satanic services by inmates

By The Associated Press

09.04.02

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — Prisoners at the Green River Correctional Complex will not be allowed to hold formal satanic worship while officials try develop a statewide policy on the services.

Inmates at the medium-security prison in Central City had been allowed to hold weekly satanic services this summer as part of the official religious services calendar, said Lisa Carnahan, a Kentucky Department of Corrections spokeswoman.

Warden Patti Webb thought services would be easier to monitor if inmates were given a specific time and place to worship, Carnahan said.

"We honestly didn't know it was on the religious calendar," Carnahan said after the Lexington Herald-Leader questioned the practice.

"We are researching it to see what we are required to allow under the law. But we've found information that indicates that satanic services could be a threat to the institutions, so for now we won't aid or abet satanic worship," she said.

Since Kentucky does not have a policy on whether Satanism can be practiced in prison, wardens at each prison can make the decision.

Under federal law and U.S. Supreme Court decisions, correctional institutions must allow inmates to exercise their religious freedom, unless the practice of the recognized religion threatens the safety of other inmates or the staff, said Joe Weedon, manager of government affairs for the American Correctional Association.

State officials have been working all summer to draft a policy on religious services, including Satanism and witchcraft.

Policies for the services vary in each state. In Texas, where 150 inmates say they follow Satanism, the services are prohibited.

"We've looked at the satanic bible and are convinced that what it advocates would put our prisons at risk, safety-wise," said Donald Kaspar, chaplain for the Texas system. "One of their tenets is revenge — if somebody hurts you, hurt them back."

An inmate at Green River triggered the debate a few months ago, when he petitioned to hold the Satanic services.

The inmate, whom prison officials refused to identify, has since been transferred to another state prison. The transfer was not related to the satanic services, Carnahan said.

Inmates at two of the state's other 14 prisons — Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex at West Liberty and the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women at Pewee Valley — practice Satanism on their own, Carnahan said.

Prison officials did not suspend Wiccan services, which also are held at Green River and three other prisons: Luther Luckett Correctional Complex in Oldham County, the Marion Adjustment Center in St. Mary's and Lee Adjustment Center in Beattyville. A few Wiccans also practice informally at the Kentucky State Penitentiary at Eddyville, Carnahan said.

"We don't have any materials that indicate that Wicca compromises the safety of the institutions," Carnahan said.

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