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Satanist inmate sues county
BY GREG TUTTLE
Of The Gazette Staff

A Billings man in prison for drug possession has filed a $10 million federal lawsuit against Yellowstone County for alleged civil-rights violations, including interference with his satanic religious practices.

Jason Paul Indreland claims in the U.S. District Court lawsuit that county jail staff took from him a religious medallion, denied him access to religious material and ridiculed and punished him for his religious beliefs.

The lawsuit also alleges that Indreland was denied medical care for his drug addiction, that he was placed in situations where violence was expected and that he suffered harassment and retaliation while incarcerated.

Indreland said he has been a practicing Satanist for the past decade and the confiscated medallion was a "protective symbol" in his religion. The lawsuit claims jail staff refused to return the medallion or allow Indreland access to a "Satanic Bible or Book of Satanic Rituals."

Indreland, 35, is incarcerated at Montana State Prison for a term of five years, with two years suspended, for felony drug possession. Indreland was convicted of the crime after Billings police found him with 15 grams of methamphetamine in March 2007.

Indreland has previous felony convictions in Yellowstone and Stillwater counties for bad checks and theft.

Indreland is not represented by an attorney in his suit. An attorney for the county, Kevin Gillen, said the county has not been served with the claim and could not comment.

Indreland initially filed the handwritten federal lawsuit last March while he was still held at the county jail. The lawsuit names as defendants the Yellowstone County Board of Commissioners, Sheriff Chuck Maxwell, Undersheriff Jay Bell and Sheriff's Capt. Dennis McCave, who oversees county jail operations.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Ostby reviewed the complaint and in October issued an order permitting Indreland to file an amended complaint. Ostby said in the order that there were several legal flaws in the original claim and it would be dismissed if not amended to comply with her order.

Indreland filed the amended complaint Nov. 12. In that document, Indreland named numerous members of the jail staff he alleges participated in violating his civil rights. Among the claims, Indreland alleges jail staff placed "Christian natured greeting cards under (his) cell door describing how he was going to undertake a huge change in his life and how Jesus was ready to save and accept him."

The lawsuit seeks $3 million for alleged civil-rights violations, $2 million for "the deprivation of his rights and injuries both mental and physical," and $5 million in punitive damages.
 
here's my deal...why are you suing, man?
The majority of people in your state agree with you. Your professor doesn't. So take it up with the prof. If he doesn't listen, take it up with the administration. If they don't listen, go back to your dorm room and lick your wounds. My guess is that's all that would have happened if the Alliance Defense Fund hadn't gotten involved. I lump them in the same group as the ACLU and ambulance chasing lawyers.

It would be another matter if his views weren't being heard. But they are; and what's more, his views are largely agreed with. Maybe (probably?) the kid had a right to say what he said, but the lawsuit is so unnecessary, imho.
 
I think very often these groups like ADF see themselves as engaging in nose-thumbing tit-for-tat with groups like the ACLU, and that many of their cases are filed fundamentally out of cynicism. From an academic administrator's POV--and setting aside for the moment the limbo a lawsuit throws everything into--the situation is rather tricky in that the student's grade for this class depends significantly on his grade on this particular assignment, a presentation done months ago which he wasn't allowed to complete and for which no actual text or recording exists. (Not that that's an insurmountable problem; they could for example have him do a makeup assignment--which would actually probably be in his favor anyway, since based on the description he almost certainly failed to follow the assignment guidelines the first time around.) As far as what happens to the professor, that would be between him and the administration; it's not up to students to decide how professors they file complaints about should be disciplined.

I still find the lawsuit's claim that, merely by assigning a presentation, a professor thereby creates a "public forum" where any interference with a student's presentation constitutes "violating their First Amendment rights" ridiculous. If that's how it's gonna be, OK, then I demand the right to curse and mouth off at any student who annoys me during class whenever and however I feel like it, and to advocate vitriolically racist, anti-Christian, or whatever-the-hell-else-I-feel-like stances in my "lectures." Because after all, merely by signing up for my class, they granted me a "public forum," and therefore limiting what I can say to them would "violate my First Amendment rights." There's a good reason why the law doesn't generally attempt to micromanage classroom conduct in this way, but leaves that up to the schools instead.
 
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