(RNS) — In 2023, Rakesh Patel, an inmate at the Jefferson Correctional Institution in Monticello, Florida, filed several grievances with the state’s Department of Corrections. After 10 years of incarceration, Patel said he was suddenly denied a copy of the Bhagavad Gita As It Is, the English translation and commentary on the central Sanskrit Hindu Scripture by the founder of the Hare Krishna movement, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
Since April 2022, all copies of the text, considered one of the most prevalent editions of the Gita, have been banned from Florida prison systems. It’s among more than 20,000 books banned by the Department of Corrections’ Literature Review Committee, based in Tallahassee.
“I am being deprive[d] of practicing my religion,” Patel, 58, wrote in his complaints. “This Hindu holy book is no different from Muslims’ holy book of Koran written in Arabic with English translations and the Christian Bible written in Hebrew with English translations. This committee is making a very serious mistake by rejecting this book.”
Patel’s appeal was denied by the FDOC representative, who gave a brief statement saying the Gita As It Is was determined by the Literature Review Committee to be “inadmissible” because it was “written in code” or in “a manner not reasonably subject to interpretation by Department staff as to meaning or intent.” Therefore, the statement said, the book was “detrimental to the safety, security, order or rehabilitative interests” of the facility, or would “create a risk of disorder.”
While the Gita is in Sanskrit, the version in question is translated into English, along with commentary. In his rebuttal, Patel, who was convicted of first-degree attempted murder and is serving a 15-year sentence, wrote, “It is not my fault if the Department’s Literature Review Committee cannot comprehend plain English.”
A cover of “Bhagavad Gita As It Is.” (Courtesy image)
Now, members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness are getting ready to file a religious discrimination lawsuit against the Jefferson Correctional Institute, with Patel, who is on track to be released in October, as a plaintiff.
“It’s inconceivable that they would ban something like this,” said lawyer David Liberman, also known as Amarendra Dasa as a devotee of ISKCON, one of the lawyers who took on the case pro bono. “It’s a noble, pure type of issue where an inmate, this is his religion. He needs the Bhagavad Gita to further his religious beliefs and his development in Krishna consciousness, and they’re not letting him. It’s just an outrage.”
The ISKCON religious community, with millions of devotees and 800 temples worldwide, is often recognized for distributing books, often in locations such as subway stations, college campuses and airports. Part of the Vaishnava lineage of Hinduism, Hare Krishnas — like the late George Harrison of the Beatles — worship Lord Krishna as the supreme divinity and use the musical chanting of the words Hare Krishna and Hare Rama to connect with the divine. ISKCON also runs what is believed to be the world’s largest vegetarian food aid program and several eco-villages.
And as part of the ISKCON Prison Ministry, devotees have sent thousands of books, CDs, prayer beads, DVDs and magazines, as well as incense, to prisons and jails in every U.S. state since the 1970s, including 20 other titles by Sri Prabhupada.
Bhakti-Lata Gauthier, the head of the ISKCON Prison Ministry, has witnessed the positive impact of the group’s letters, emails and artwork on inmates, she said. She’s preached to inmates for over 40 years and said 30 to 50 new inmates write to her each month. The group’s outreach has even led to the initiation of new devotees.
“When they have Krishna consciousness, it changes the way their life is,” she said, recalling how an inmate called his time in solitary confinement “like being in a monastery” and used the time to chant and read, and how a previously violent inmate said he “lost his desire to fight” after reading Prabhupada’s words. “Sometimes it takes some time, but when it hits home, it really hits home.”
For Gauthier, who is French-Canadian and now lives in Alachua, Florida, which has the largest Hare Krishna community in North America, daily interactions with these devotees have impacted her own spiritual life. She said she has found herself praying for the welfare of “Bhakta Richard and Bhakta Gary” in the holy sites of India.
She shared an excerpt from a letter from Gary W., an inmate in Raiford, Florida, in which he wrote, ”I still don’t know if I’ll get the beads you sent for the second time. I’m chanting on my bootlace though, getting a few rounds in, and mentally chanting all day as I go through my prison routine. When I get out, I want to at least live close to a temple for daily devotional service.”
The Florida Department of Corrections logo. (Image courtesy of FDC)
Liberman, who also lives in Alachua, has been the lawyer on several ISKCON distribution and solicitation cases since he became a devotee in the 1970s, including “cult deprogramming” cases in the 1980s and 1990s, in which devotees who were said to be “brainwashed” were isolated from temples and coerced into renouncing their beliefs, he said. Liberman said he sees similarities between those cases and the upcoming lawsuit, as the “ISKCON’s core beliefs and practices were put on trial.”
And yet, he said, “I would never have believed that there would be a case like this in the 21st century. I didn’t think they did these things anymore, but here we are in North Florida, and sure enough, they’re doing it.”
A 2022 report from the nonprofit Marshall Project found that Florida prisons lead the rest of the country in the number of books banned. From “The Simpsons Rainy Day Fun Book” by Matt Groening to books about origami and sign language, the books chosen to be banned seem “futile” to many, Liberman said, including some who argue the prison book bans function alongside Florida’s larger conservative book banning push in the education system.
“The problem here is there’s no specific guidelines that they’re required to follow,” Liberman said. “This regulation, this code as it’s written, it gives them unfettered discretion to pick and choose amongst beliefs and religions, and whatever they want to do — not just religion, but political views, cultural views … there’s no limits. There’s no guidelines or regulations that confine their sphere of authority.”
The Bhagavad Gita As It Is is not the only religious text banned by the Literature Review Committee. Given an almost identical statement from the FDC, the Sabbath Keepers Fellowship, considered the largest Sabbath-keeping prison ministry in the country, was told that its Hebrew study Bible and Freedom Call newsletter were impounded and subject to being banned statewide.
“We assume this may shortly hold true for any other languages the FDC doesn’t understand, such as Spanish or the (Quran) in Arabic,” said the ministry’s executive director, Lisa Haufler, in a statement on Facebook. “If it doesn’t, it could very well be construed as an antisemitic instance. Anyone in Florida ministry work who uses any form of Hebrew language should be informed that they could be next.”
The Florida Department of Corrections and the Literature Review Committee chief, Melvin Herring, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
