Baton Rouge, USA - A lawsuit filed today alleges that a Mormon inmate at the Louisiana State Penitentiary has been illegally denied access to church books and the prison has repeatedly refused to provide Mormon religious services.
Norman Sanders, a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, contends that the prison's actions have violated his free-speech rights.
The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, cites a federal law passed in 2000 that forbids the control of a prisoner's private practice of religion, unless it clearly poses a safety or security risk.
Warden Burl Cain denied the allegations in the suit and said Sanders' religious freedom is not being restricted by the prison.
Sanders, who is serving a life sentence for murder, said he had no problems getting Mormon religious material until December 2003, when Angola prison officials started an approved vendors' list for ordering books.
Since then, the suit says Sanders has been able to get material only from the church itself, while orders for books from such church-oriented sources as Brigham Young University have been returned to the sellers by prison officials.
The suit was filed in state district court in Baton Rouge.