Sotomayor Overturned Prison Regulations to Allow Santeria-Practicing Convicts to Wear Beads

June 22, 2009

Author: Fadia Galindo

Source: CNSNews.com

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=49870

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, told the State of New York in 1994 that it must allow prison inmates who practice Santeria to wear multi-colored beads. Santeria is a sect that combines African religious traditions with elements drawn from Roman Catholicism.

In the case of Campos v. Coughlin , Sotomayor told state prison officials that their fear of a growing gang movement within the prison was less important than the right of Santeria faithful to wear religious beads.

Then a Southern District of New York federal judge, Sotomayor claimed in Campos v. Coughlin that the New York State Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) had engaged in what she called an “erroneous deprivation” of the rights of Santeria followers Tony Campos and Alex Lance, by expressing an “unabashed bias” towards Christianity.

Santeria, a religion which came to the attention of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1993 in Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, is relatively unknown in the United States. With adherents in Cuba and elsehwere in the Caribbean, Santeria juxtaposes African polytheism with Roman Catholic saints and rosary beads.

The saints, or orishas, as they are referred to in Santeria, are considered gods and goddesses honored by the faithful. Each devotee has a specific orisha as their patron and guide, which they venerate with shrines, sacrifices and the daily wearing of multicolored beads. These beads signify, according to Santeria beliefs, devotion to their patron and in return gain the wearers positive lives.

The plaintiffs, Campos and Lance, filed suit on First and 14th Amendment grounds that they were denied the right to wear religious beads, which they said were the “hallmark” of their beliefs.

Under a New York corrections system rule, inmates were allowed to wear under their clothing “only traditionally accepted religious medals, crucifixes or crosses” that are affixed to chains.

“It is not acceptable to wear religious medals, crucifixes or crosses that are affixed to beads, leather, strings, or rope,” the state regulation states. “The religious medal, crucifix, or cross on a chain, shall not be of such size and design that can be used as a weapon, conceal contraband, or constitute any other threat to the security or safety of the institution."

Under the state’s policy, religious beads “like rosary, Dhikr, or ‘any other traditionally accepted prayer beads’” cannot be worn but may be possessed with permission,” the policy added.

However, Judge Sotomayor ruled that this policy violated the inmates’ constitutional rights.