Pagan prisoners may be entitled to wands, tarot cards and incense, according to official government guidance.
A 104-page document entitled Faith and Pastoral Care for Prisoners was circulated last month to prison staff. It gives advice on how to treat inmates of different faiths, including witches and pagans.
“Some pagans use tarot cards for meditation and guidance. This may be allowed under the supervision of the pagan chaplain . . . but only following a local risk assessment,” it says.
Artefacts linked to paganism and listed in the document include “incense and holder (fragrances should, where possible, be appropriate to the season)” and “hoodless robe (only to be used during private or corporate worship)”.
There are, however, limits. “Most pagans wear ordinary dress for worship,” the paper says. “Some traditions, however, have special dress for worship (eg, hoodless robe . . .) In prison, skyclad (naked) worship is not permitted.”
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The Ministry of Justice does not publish the number of pagan prisoners but a response to a freedom of information request in 2013 found there were around 600, more than the number of Hindus or Jews.
The guidance contains information on a range of faiths, and sets out what inmates might reasonably expect to have provided. Hindus should, for example, be able to clean themselves after using the lavatory with running water rather than paper. It adds that Mormons like cocoa and Rastafarians should be allowed to play the drums.
The paper gives details about each faith. It says, for example, that adherents of the Baha’i faith need to recite the phrase “Allah-u-Abha” 95 times a day and Zoroastrians worship communally in a “fire temple”.
Glyn Travis, a spokesman for the Prison Officers Association, expressed concern that inmates could adopt a faith for the related benefits rather than because of a genuine belief.
“It’s going to be very difficult for staff to administer and management to police. I think it’s a waste of paper,” he said.
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“It’s very, very common for prisoners to change their religion inside. They don’t have to prove anything, they just have to say, ‘I’m a pagan, and that’s it’, and then they get special privileges . . . It will do nothing but create uncertainty and instability and lead to more prisoner complaints that are futile and vexatious.”
“I’ve never heard of a prisoner claiming they are a Jedi but I am sure they will.”
But Christina Oakley Harrington, a commentator on the history of paganism and witchcraft who describes her-self as a high priestess, said the protected items recognised by the prison service were “incredibly important for us to make a spiritual connection”.
“A wand, like any ceremonial object, is a symbol which represents deeper spiritual principles,” she said. “The wand symbolises the sacred qualities of fire: focus, courage and bravery . . . Contemplation of such symbols forms a core of pagan spiritual practice.”
The prison service said: “Prisoners are entitled to practise their faith within security considerations and requests from individuals to change their faith are respected by the prison service.”