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| Articles of Sikh Faith, each symbolize a special significance - both historically and spiritually |
New York, USA (KP) - Navdeep Singh, 28, is originally from India but immigrated to Jamaica, then to Queens in 1977. He began serving a five-year sentence last January for assaulting two men in a late-night brawl. New York's Fishkill Correctional Facility is now violating his right to worship, consequently, Navdeep Singh is suing the State Department of Correctional Services (DOCS).
Navdeep Singh has also spent the past five months on a hunger strike in order to draw attention to his cause. Prison officials dumped his underwear in the garbage when he arrived, despite his protestations that it was a sacred item. Kachera is a long underwear worn by devout Sikhs to reinforce their vow of abstinence. Navdeep Singh has been deprived of access to another religious item Sikhs are expected to wear at all times, that is, an iron bracelet worn on the wrist symbolizing bondage to truth.
"One of the correction officers told me that if I wanted my religious items, I should go back to my country and ride camels," said Navdeep Singh, seated in the visiting room of the prison hospital where he has been admitted due to his rapid weight loss.
Prison officials threw him into solitary confinement when he refused to shave his beard, regardless of a court order allowing Navdeep Singh to keep his hair. "They said the order only pertains only to the hair on my head," said Navdeep Singh, breaking out into a laugh. "According to them, a beard isn't considered hair." A turban is wrapped around Navdeep Singh's head and the bushy beard he refuses to cut flows down to his chest.
"This is a police state," said Navdeep. "Outside it's a different world but inside it's a police state. The correction officers can do whatever they want." He says this incident has taught him a lesson.
Under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act passed by Congress in 2000, religious freedoms can be curtailed only when there is a "compelling state interest" to do so. Yet this isn't the first time a prison has been accused of denying religious freedoms. In November similar incidents were reported in Solano State Prison and San Quentin State Prison in California. The Sikh Coalition, a non-profit organization, says Sikh prisoners in these facilities were punished for refusing to cut their hair.
Navdeep, in his beige hospital gown, has been surviving on milk and Ensure. A few days after his hunger strike began, his kachera was returned to him and he is now permitted to wear the bracelet during meal times.
Before filing Navdeep's lawsuit, United Sikhs tried to negotiate with Fishkill prison authorities. "We explained to them why these items were important to him, but they refused to understand. Rather, prison guards physically abused Navdeep after he filed the complaint," says Manvinder.
"We recognize the importance of spiritual and religious practices and have worked hard to provide these services to inmates at our facilities throughout the state," says Michael Fraser, spokesperson for DOCS. "However, we must ensure that any program or service provided is done so in a manner that does not undermine safety or security." United Sikhs finds the security argument confusing and illogical.
"They haven't explained how an underwear, a comb or a bangle can be a security concern," says Hadayal Singh, director of United Sikhs. He points out freedoms offered to Native Americans, who are allowed to possess a medicine bag, sacred herbs, a smoking pipe and Christians who are permitted to wear cross pendants.
The lawsuit accuses roughly 15 Fishkill prison officials. This includes the superintendent of the facility and DOCS Commissioner Glenn Goord. DOCS would not comment on specific allegations in the case due to the litigation.
"He is only asking for the religious rights which are accorded to him by law," said Manvinder Singh, director for International Civil and Human Right Advocacy of United Sikhs, an advocacy group.
