14 DAY TRIAL // A prisoner in MCI-Norfolk jail, Massachusetts is suing the prison system over breech of his religious rights.
He claims that he is not allowed to practice Wicca because he is denied tools to perform rituals.
According to Boston Magazine, Daniel LaPlante was jailed for three 1987 murders in Townsend, killing a mother and her two children.
LaPlante has received a life in prison sentence and he claims that he is denied the means to practice the neo-pagan religion consisting of “mysticism, and natural magic or ritual.”
Among his complaints he lists not having access to some 30 oils he needs, including “dragon’s blood,” “black opium,” and “honeysuckle.”
In order to make an “earth offering” his religion requires him to see the moon, but he is secluded in a dark basement and cannot properly perform the ritual.
He also mentions that the cakes served in jail do not “excite the senses,” therefore putting a damper in the rituals, and has requested for the type of cake served there to be changed monthly.
He insists that carrot cake, which in the Wicca religion represents “Wolf Ice,” be part of the menu.
“We get so much misinformation spread about our religion, about our practices, that even a hint of anything out of the ordinary associated with Wicca gets blown out of proportion. It’s difficult to be Wiccan or pagan.
“Not only is our religion misunderstood, those misunderstandings also attract to us more than our fair share of crazy people,” comments Boston Wiccan Von Thompson.
Thompson believes that LaPlante doesn't need to have these items in order to keep his faith alive and that it is people like him that give the religion a bad name.
“We most of the time have one, maybe two, pieces of ritual jewelry, which might or might not be recognizable as a Wiccan symbol.
“Most of the time we wear street clothes. We serve gluten free cookies and organic apple juice for our ‘cakes and ale.’ We’re just not all that exciting,” he adds.