Due In 2 Hours

Choose either Option A or Option B. Formulate an initial post in which you address the points noted in the prompt for your chosen option. Option A: Native American Religion Read the article, Indian Prisoners Claim Spiritual Needs Ignored. Then, address the following: Should Native Americans be able to perform their ceremonies in prison? Explain your position using evidence from the article and your textbook. Do inmates give up all rights when they enter prison? Does this include the right to practice their religion? Does this apply to all prisoners, or just to Native Americans? Option B: Social Groups There are many different kinds of social groups in the United States: clubs, fraternities, gangs, counterculture groups, online communities, and so forth. Identify a social group that you are part of, and then discuss which of the social control mechanisms (mentioned in section 8.4 of the textbook) are applied in your group. Why do you think these forms of social control are effective? Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length. Support your claims with examples from the required materials and/or other scholarly sources. Cite your sources in the body of your post and provide a complete reference for each source used at the end of it. By Day 7, respond to at least two of your peers, including one who responded to the option you did not choose. Demonstrate your understanding of the topic by respectfully asking questions, raising new points for consideration, or requesting clarification from your fellow students. Carefully review the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate this Discussion Thread.       Indian Prisoners Claim Spiritual Needs Ignored November 21, 1993|By Hugh Dellios, Tribune Staff Writer.    2693 MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. — Whispering a prayer, convicted burglar Charles Yellow Thunder lit a match to a thick braid of sweetgrass, then waved an eagle feather over it to waft smoke toward all four walls of the prison cafeteria. Yellow Thunder says the sweetgrass ritual assures sincerity and good luck, and it is one way he tries to observe his traditional Indian religion in the minimum-security unit of the state prison here. Despite his efforts, the Winnebago Indian says it hasn’t been easy to maintain his faith behind bars. He says he only recently has been allowed to enjoy pipe and sweetgrass ceremonies. Yellow Thunder, 32, has sued prison officials for holding him down in a chair and forcibly cutting his hair, which his religion dictates should only be done during a time of mourning. “What I did to put myself here, I accept that. That’s me,” Yellow Thunder says. “But the way we believe, to have your hair cut like that, it was just degrading.” The free worship lawsuit, one of more than 40 filed by Indian prisoners across the U.S. in the last 20 years, illustrates what Native Americans say is a chronic problem in the nation’s prisons. Indians claim that while chapels and religious services are readily available to Christian, Jewish and Muslim inmates, aboriginal Americans’ spiritual needs can be frustrated by a lack of understanding and even contempt among prison wardens and guards. Prison officials say limits on Indians’ religious freedom has less to do with discrimination than with security. This year, the struggle to balance prison safety with Indians’ free worship rights has been taken up in Congress, where activists are fighting to preserve traditional Indian religious practices. Backers of the proposed Native American Free Exercise of Religion Act say it finally would extend the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of worship to Indians who observe religions that existed centuries before the United States was founded. The bill, now being analyzed by federal agencies, would protect sacred sites on federal land from commercial development and exempt the religious use of peyote from drug laws. It also would give Indian prisoners equal access to spiritual leaders and ceremonies, the right to wear their hair in traditional ways and to carry a medicine pouch with tobacco, sage, sweetgrass and other sacred plants. The bill would not allow prison inmates to consume peyote, a hallucinogenic plant that is considered sacred by some Indians. “It’s been a real struggle getting these things recognized as valid religious practices in prisons,” says Lenny Foster, director of the Navajo Nation Corrections Project. Citing security concerns, federal courts have given officials wide latitude in limiting religious services inside prison walls. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1987 established a “reasonableness” test that weakened prisoners’ free worship rights. Sweat lodge and pipe ceremonies are allowed in some federal and state prisons with a substantial Native American population. In many cases, inmates have to prove their Indian heritage, and rituals are practiced under the supervision of a spiritual leader from outside the prison. Indians argue, however, that even where the practices are allowed, their needs sometimes are ignored by unsympathetic prison officials. Currently, Indian activists are fighting for use of sweat lodges in prisons in Ohio and Oklahoma, while a federal judge ordered Utah to provide the service in 1989. At the same time, Indian leaders complain they often have trouble visiting inmates for a simple pipe ceremony. Since Yellow Thunder filed his lawsuit to stop the cutting of Indian inmates’ hair, Indiana officials have been struggling to come up with a policy on spiritual practices for the 38 Indians in state prisons. Indian leaders complain the officials repeatedly have delayed the policy, while at the same time Indiana boasts that it was one of the first prison systems to provide a synagogue. Doris Woodruff, director of religious services for the Indiana prison system, said the state has allowed pipe ceremonies since 1988. She said she has proposed a more lenient policy on hairstyles, medicine pouches and possession of sacred items, but added that sweat lodges likely will not be allowed. Prison officials are concerned that sweat lodges and medicine pouches, normally off-limits to non-Indians, could be used to conceal contraband weapons or drugs. They fear that long hair might help inmates escape by making it easy for them to change the way they look. “There are security concerns. Some of our folks are not familiar with the practices, and we’re trying to keep it from becoming a management nightmare,” said Woodruff, formerly a chaplain at a women’s prison. “Offenders are never supposed to be out of sight of the staff,” she said. “Even if a staffer is inside the sweat lodge, it’s completely dark and it puts the staffer at risk.” 1 | 2 | Next    by Taboola  Sponsored Links  From the Web Moms: Pay 0% Interest Until 2018comparecards.com “Shark Tank” Star Reveals #1 Mortgage Payoff TipThe Easy Loan Site by Bills.com Fort Pierce: This Meal Service is Cheaper Than Your Local StoreHome Chef There Are 7 Types of Irish Last Names – Which One Is Yours?Ancestry Top Longevity Scientist Provides Leading Expertise For Your Daily UseBoston Globe | Elysium Health Try Not To Be Stunned By How Ginger Grant Looks TodayEdgeTrends MORE: Every Week, A $1 Reminder Of Sorrow Pain relievers: What are the differences? Princess Grace`s Fatal Crash: Her Daughter`s Account 10 reasons why you want the job Life Skill #201: Washing a baseball cap Complications common for adults after tonsillectomy   Related Articles Pontiac State Prison Still A Battleground July 17, 1988 No Frills But Greater Danger February 21, 1996 Pontiac Prison Gets New Warden April 2, 1988 Prison Of The Mind October 6, 1991 The Governor And The Prisons October 30, 1986 Find More Stories About State Prison