Gabe Galanda: Washington changes policies for Indian inmates

Thursday, June 30, 2011  

"In early 2010, the state Department of Corrections stripped the American Indians incarcerated in its 12 prisons of virtually everything that makes them tribal. Agency policies were changed, ostensibly to help balance the state's budget. Tribal religious ideology and spiritual practices were cast aside.

Washington state has never been capable of grasping Indian religion or spirituality. The Boldt litigation now continues toward its fifth decade. The state Department of Transportation graving yard fiasco at Tse-Whit-zen Village in Port Angeles is a not-too-distant memory. Counties still prosecute Indians for hunting in ancestral areas.

Nontribal society and government are innately unable to understand, let alone accept, Indian spiritual practices and sacred places. They just don't or can't get it.

Thankfully, this story did not end there or also result in state-tribal dispute. Instead, trust and faith prevailed."

Get the Story:
Gabriel S. Galanda: A precedent for Native Americans' religious freedom in Washington prisons (The Seattle Times 6/30)