Spiritual Leaders Urge Prison Sweat Lodge Be Limited To Native Americans

The Las Vegas Sun yesterday reported that at a hearing Tuesday before the Nevada Indian Commission, Native American spiritual advisers urged the Department of Corrections to exclude non-Indians from religious sweat lodge ceremonies at Nevada State Prison. A Department of Corrections check showed that many participants in sweat lodge ceremonies for inmates segregated from the general prison population are white or Hispanic. That includes the sweat lodge's spiritual leader, August Ardagna, and its pipe holder, Lionel Hernandez. "They are just playing with our ceremonies," said Buck Sampson, spiritual leader for the Reno-Sparks Indian colony." What they are doing makes me sick." Spiritual leaders, though, said they are sensitive to people who are not full-blooded Indians, but want follow Native American traditions.