In a yard surrounded by barbed wire, a group of Native men stands near a creek. They must meet in secret, as they're not allowed to gather as a group.
They've come to hold counsel.
They speak of fighting to hold on to their culture and religion and not being able to honor the spirits of their lost loved ones through prayer.
As they speak, a guard notices them and summons other guards, who then break up the meeting of Native inmates at the Nebraska State Penitentiary.
"Yes, they do have the right to keep us locked up here," said Richard Walker, a 57-year-old Winnebago inmate. "But still, we have rights as human beings."
Walker, frustrated by the inability of Native inmates to meet as a group and have their own club, decided to fight back.
More than a year ago, he filed a lawsuit alleging the state was in contempt of a 1974 U.S. District Court consent decree that guaranteed Native inmates religious rights.
The 1974 decree required prison officials to, among other things, permit the wearing of traditional Native hairstyles, allow access to Native spiritual leaders, provide accommodations for religious services and offer accredited educational courses in Native studies.
Lawyers for the inmates say they may settle the case with the state as early as next week. Should they fail to reach a settlement, however, they are ready to go to court.
"We're hoping it will settle," said Omaha attorney Jonathan Cohn.
A spokeswoman for the Nebraska Attorney General's Office, which is representing the state Corrections Department in the matter, declined to comment on the case.
Walker, during an interview at the penitentiary recently, cited what he said were violations of the decree. They include prison officials:
* Refusing to allow Natives regular access to the sweat lodge on prison grounds.
* Forcing the Native American Spiritual and Cultural Awareness Club to shut down for not allowing non-Natives to be club officers.
* Refusing to allow Native spiritual leaders from outside the prison inside to run ceremonies.
Warden Mike Kenney, while declining to comment on specifics of the case, said religious groups at the prison are allowed to meet twice a week — once for religious worship and once for religious education.
Currently, Native inmates are allowed to participate in the sweat lodge, or inipi, ceremony twice a week, on Saturdays and Sundays.
But Walker said Native inmates should be allowed access to the sweat lodge whenever they want, just as Christian inmates are allowed access to a chapel anytime.
"All we're asking them to do is pray," he said. "We don't know why they're so vehemently opposed to us praying."
As for requiring Native inmates to allow non-Natives to become officers in their club, Kenney said it is prison policy that religious groups must allow anyone to join or hold office.
Walker said that while non-Natives are welcomed to participate in club activities, Native inmates oppose allowing them to serve as decision-makers. That's because non-Natives often fail to understand the religious significance of certain ceremonies and, thus, desecrate those ceremonies.
Not allowed to meet as a group, Native inmates must now meet in secret and in violation of prison rules, Walker said.
"It's an Indian club," he said. "Why can't Indians run it?"
Walker said Native inmates have especially suffered because outside spiritual leaders could not come in to help run ceremonies.
In the past three to four years, only two Native spiritual leaders have been allowed to participate in ceremonies with the inmates, he said.
Warden Kenney countered, saying the prison does allow Native spiritual leaders to run ceremonies in the prison, as it does with other religious groups.
"Religious practices of all faith groups are seen as positive for treatment and rehabilitation of prisoners," he said.
As a result, the prison does what it can, without sacrificing safety, to accommodate all prisoners' religious practices, he said.
The two men at least agree on one thing: the rehabilitative power of religion.
Since being sentenced to life in prison for second-degree murder in 1966, Walker has seen many young Native inmates enter prison angry and rebellious.
Often, he said, little about their attitudes changes while imprisoned at the Nebraska State Penitentiary. That is, unless they take part in Native religious ceremonies.
"I've seen the sweat lodge calm them, put purpose in their lives," he said. "I see it doing them a lot of good."