ACLU Sues On Behalf Of Mormon Prisoner

The ACLU of Louisiana announced on Friday that it has filed suit against the Louisiana Department of Corrections on behalf of Norman Sanders, a Mormon prisoner who has been denied access to religious materials. Also Sanders' requests that Mormon religious services be held in the prison have been ignored. Under a 2003 policy change, the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola permits inmates to order books and other written materials only from vendors on an "approved vendor list". The prison has refused to add vendors such as Brigham Young University, to the list. The Complaint (full text) says that the LDS Church itself-- which sells copies of scriptures but not other kinds of religious books-- is on the approved list, but that requests for books from it have been returned to Sanders by prison employees without comment.