Not only have countless Native American nations across the United States struggled over time with maintaining their ownership of their land, their sacred sites, and other elements of their spiritual and historical traditions, but their members have also struggled to maintain their Indigenous identity while incarcerated in American prisons. Many legal cases of Native Americans in prison are centered around their right to participate in sweat lodge ceremonies, of which they have been historically denied. However, the decision of the 2014 case of Yellowbear v. Lampert represents a significant win for Native Americans and their right to religious freedom in prison. Yellowbear v. Lampert has served as an important resource for other cases to cite as a way to assert compelling interests in the prison environment with regard to Native American practices.
History has demonstrated to us that Native American religious practices are not viewed on equal grounds as Western-dominated religions such as Christianity. This is viewed in the way that Native Americans are forced to use terms rooted in Western language in an attempt to translate the significance of their traditions or are forced to assign significance to every object or landmark in the hopes that they will be able to protect their ownership of land or their right to practice specific traditions from the federal government. The procession of legal cases detailing incarcerated Native American individuals has proven to be no exception.
