Native American inmates fight tobacco ban with U.S. support

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) The U.S. Department of Justice is supporting Native American inmates in their lawsuit challenging South Dakota’s ban on tobacco in religious ceremonies.
Inmates Blaine Brings Plenty and Clayton Creek in their 2009 federal lawsuit against the South Dakota Department of Corrections contend that a prison policy that bans the use of tobacco during religious ceremonies is discriminatory. The state said ceremonial tobacco inside the state penitentiary was becoming increasingly abused, and the policy is not overly restrictive because it allows other botanicals such as red willow bark to be burned. Continued