USA: inmate sues Kansas prison for "imposing christian propaganda"

Shari Webber-Dunn, an inmate serving a murder charge in Kansas, said her First Amendment rights were violated by “Christian propaganda” imposed by the all-female prison. Now, she’s suing department administrators to have it removed.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, alleged that the Topeka Correctional Facility in Kansas unconstitutionally embraces Christianity by displaying an eight-foot-tall wooden cross in its basement, publically posting prison-related prayers, soliciting book donations for a spiritual library and offering prayer request submission on a Christian bulletin board. Christian movies are also broadcasted on facility televisions and spiritual quotes are posted at the laundry room workplace, the lawsuit alleges.

Webber-Dunn believed that the correctional center was “imposing strong Christian values on inmates” and creating “a coercive atmosphere where inmates are pressured to spend their time in a highly religious atmosphere and to participate in religious activities and prayers.”

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