Texas prison inmate William Chance poses at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Michael Unit near Tennessee Colony, Texas. In a federal lawsuit, Chance is trying to obtain a small lock of hair from his deceased parents for a Native American religious ritual that he says will allow him to properly mourn their deaths. Prison officials said possession of the hair is a security issue and contested the lawsuit. A federal appeals court has supported Chance and returned his suit to a lower court in Tyler where a trial is set for January.TENNESSEE COLONY, Texas – William Chance wants to connect to the spirits of his dead parents from his prison cell. All he needs is a lock of their hair for a Native American ritual he believes will help find them.
It’s not an easy task for an inmate in the Texas prison system, which considers the hair a security risk and has barred Chance’s family from delivering it. A federal appeals court says the request appears harmless and has sent the case back to a lower court for review — a ruling that could stretch Chance’s already long wait into 2014.
“The hair is just the connection to their physical spirit,” Chance, 57, said from East Texas’ Michael Unit prison, where he’s among some 85 prisoners who participate in Native American religious activities about twice a month. “This is something that our family has always done. The fact I’m not allowed to do that, it makes me feel bad.
“Sometimes I feel haunted, like I’m letting them down, and I realize my life in the past has been a pretty big disappointment for them.”
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled Texas should not have flatly denied Chance’s access to the hair, but agreed other requests he sought on behalf of a group of Native American prisoners were properly refused, such as smoking a nearly foot-long peace pipe and burning ceremonial herbs for what’s known as the Smudging Ritual.