this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2024
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NEW YORK (AP) — Inmates in New York are suing the state corrections department over the decision to lock down prisons during next Monday’s total solar eclipse.

The suit filed Friday in federal court in upstate New York argues that the April 8 lockdown violates inmates’ constitutional rights to practice their faiths by preventing them from taking part in a religiously significant event.

The plaintiffs are six men with varying religious backgrounds who are incarcerated at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility in Woodbourne. They include a Baptist, a Muslim, a Seventh-Day Adventist and two practitioners of Santeria, as well as an atheist.

“A solar eclipse is a rare, natural phenomenon with great religious significance to many,” the complaint reads, noting that Bible passages describe an eclipse-like phenomenon during Jesus’ crucifixion while sacred Islamic works describes a similar event when the Prophet Muhammad’s son died.

read more: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/new-york-inmates-are-suing-to-watch-the-solar-eclipse-after-state-orders-prisons-locked-down

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[–] Minotaur@lemm.ee 102 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (34 children)

The religious lawsuit is kind of bullshit, in my opinion - but they’re right to take action over what is essentially overt, purposeless cruelty to deprive people the ability to look outside simply in order to punish them for acts they’re already being punished for.

Maybe if you let prisoners appreciate nature and life outside and science a bit more they would have a bit more motive to stay on the safe side of the law in the future. Random punitive shit like this only causes resentment and recidivism, which is I’m sure what the legal system wants anyway.

[–] el_doso@lemmy.world 26 points 8 months ago

I more think it's the optimal legal strategy to frame it this way, even though probably most of the plaintiffs aren't necessarily thinking about it from a religious angle.

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