Prisoner's Protest of Removal As Sweat Lodge Leader Rejected

In Wills v. Reighard, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22575 (WD Mo., Oct. 5, 2005), a Missouri federal district court rejected a prisoner's free exercise and equal protection claims growing out of the prisoner's removal from a leadership position in the prison's Native American Sweat Lodge. Tensions had developed among inmates who participated in the prison's Native American Spiritual Group. Plaintiff was regarded as unqualified to serve as Lodge Leader because he was not Native American, was not an enrolled member of a tribe, listed his religious preference as Jewish, and was unfamiliar with the songs necessary to properly perform the Sweat Lodge ceremony. The court held that plaintiff had no constitutional right to hold a leadership position in the religious group. It also rejected plaintiff's racial discrimination claims.