Wiccan Inmate Allowed to Sue over Denial of Symbolic Necklace

August 23, 2002

Source: The Associated Press

On August 23, 2002 The Associated Press reported that "a federal judge ruled that a prison inmate can sue the [Wisconsin] state Department of Corrections because guards wouldn't let him wear a Wiccan necklace... Michael Grindemann, an inmate at the Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution in Plymouth, said in a complaint that the Corrections Department violated his First Amendment rights by denying him a pentacle — a five-pointed star also known as a pentagram... The Pentacle is a piece of jewelry Wiccans wear around the neck representing the four ancient elements of life."