By Susan Montoya Bryan --
Associated Press ESTANCIA, N.M. (AP) - So much anger and frustration.
The volatile cocktail of emotions that was mixing in Melvin Martin had reached a boiling point. He felt like he was about to go crazy.
Far from his home on the Navajo reservation and far from his people's ancient healing traditions, he could do nothing but fester inside a Sandoval County lockup as he waited for the justice system to run its course.
Today, the soft-spoken Navajo from Crownpoint said he's a different person. He seemed more relaxed, respectful and reconnected to his culture.
All that, he said, thanks to the chance he has each week to take part in a traditional Sweatlodge ceremony at the Torrance County Detention Center, where he's currently serving his federal sentence for assault.
''We look beyond these wires,'' he said, pointing to the pair of fences and rolls of razor wire that separate the prison from the endless prairie.
''Me and the brothers here, we look beyond all that even though we know we're within. Once we start this and we get the ceremony going, our minds go back home; they go back to the places of our people, our land,'' he said. ''We can get away from this place.''
The privately run Torrance County prison is one of many lockups across the nation - including state and federal prisons - that offer the traditional ceremony for American Indian prisoners.
Click here to read full story: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415128
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment