A practitioner of witchcraft won't be casting any spells at the federal
prison in Pekin, Ill., a judge in East St. Louis ruled last week in a religious
freedom case.
On Oct. 30, the day before Halloween, U.S. District Judge Michael J. Reagan
ruled against Kerry D. O'Bryan's demand to perform spells as part of his
observance of the Wiccan religion.
O'Bryan, 32, of Kansas, is a bank robber and counterfeiter who received more
than 29 years in prison for a robbery that took place in September 1996.
A Federal Bureau of Prisons ban on spells and curses, enacted in May of last
year, includes the medium-security prison at Pekin, where O'Bryan is housed.
After O'Bryan's request was denied through the administrative appeal process,
he filed suit in East St. Louis claiming the policy violates his First
Amendment rights and also runs counter to the Religion Freedom Restoration Act
of 1993. He sued the bureau, its director and regional directors, and the
warden at Pekin.
"The casting of 'spells' and the use of 'magick' is a well documented
exercise of the Wiccan religion," O'Bryan wrote.
It did not indicate whether the practices require a ceremony, or exactly what
he claimed to be prevented from doing.
The Bureau of Prisons provided only a basic explanation for the reasons why
spells are prohibited — that they aren't authorized "in the interest of
security and good order of the institution."