A transgender inmate, sentenced to 55 years for the death of her 11-month-old stepdaughter, has filed a civil lawsuit against the prison chaplain. She claims the chaplain forbade her from wearing a hijab outside her immediate bed area, despite her identification as Muslim.
Autumn Cordellionè, also known as Jonathan C. Richardson, is currently serving her sentence at the Branchville Correctional Facility, a state prison for men operated by the Indiana Department of Correction.
According to a lawsuit filed on November 30 and obtained by Fox News Digital, Cordellionè was reportedly informed by a prison chaplain that wearing the hijab outside her immediate sleeping area was not permitted.
Cordellionè is seeking $150,000 in damages and the right to wear the hijab “anywhere I go within the facility.”
“I informed him that I wear the hajib [sic] in order to cover my head and ears for modesty purposes, as I am an Islamic practicing transwoman,” Cordellionè said in the lawsuit.
The chaplain then reportedly told Richardson that his listed religious preference is “Wiccan,” a pagan Earth-centered religion with a male god and moon goddess, “and I responded that I am an eclectic practitioner who is a member of the Theosophical Society