BATON ROUGE, La. (RNS) Two maximum security inmates — one Catholic, the other a member of the Nation of Islam — filed separate lawsuits Thursday (Feb. 5) to allow them to practice their faiths and obtain religious materials.

The Louisiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed the suits on behalf of Donald Lee Leger Jr., a death row inmate who says he is forced to watch televised Baptist church services on Sundays and cannot tune into a televised Mass or attend Mass at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.

The other suit, filed on behalf of inmate Shawn Anderson, says he cannot receive religious publications from the Nation of Islam, participate in worship services for the Nation of Islam at Angola or form a Nation of Islam study group.

Both inmates filed suit against the head of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections; Burl Cain, the warden at Angola, and various prison officials. Officials at the prison and the state department said they had not seen the suit and declined to comment.

Marjorie Esman, executive director of the Louisiana ACLU, said “Cain can tell prisoners to do a lot of things, but he can’t compel them to practice a certain religion or block reasonable requests to practice their religion.”

Barry Gerharz and Katie Schwartzmann, attorneys for the two inmates, said in Leger’s lawsuit that since April 2007, Angola officials tune televisions on death row to Baptist church services on Sundays, sometimes having the inmates watch two services from the same church.

Leger’s lawsuit said he has not had access to a Catholic Mass since those services were suspended in 2007, although Baptist services are held in the death row prison yard. It also alleges that Leger’s plastic rosary was “seized and destroyed” by prison officials.

Gerharz said Leger has filed several complaints with Angola officials about the situation and each time has been encouraged to drop them. He has been disciplined when he did not, he said.

Gerharz said that Angola officials “have repeatedly denied Mr. Anderson his rights to have access to any religious materials or publications from the Nation of Islam and assemble, counsel or worship with other members of the Nation of Islam.” The suit claims prison officials feel that the nation of Islam is “a threat to order and security” at Angola.

Both lawsuits ask the courts to issue orders allowing the inmates to practice their religions without interference from prison officials. Leger’s lawsuit also asks for unspecified monetary damages.