A witch in prison? Canada will pay for a Wiccan priest

The Correctional Service of Canada pays for priests of the Wiccan faith to visit inmates and sets aside space for Wiccan ceremonies in penitentiaries.

As many as 200 inmates across the country profess to follow Wicca, a pagan religion whose members often call themselves witches, belong to covens and wear the pentagram as their symbol.

Offenders who follow the religion are allowed to don ceremonial robes and keep altars in their cells.

Corrections officials say they have an obligation under human rights legislation to allow the practice of virtually any kind of religious belief, and to try to provide help from outside clergy when requested.

Wiccan priests visit the institutions as often as once every two weeks. Some, like representatives of the Pagan Federation of Canada, are paid, while others come on a volunteer basis.

Ceremonies involve "casting" a circle on the ground, around which members gather to worship. The circle is traditionally drawn with a sword-like instrument, but security rules require inmate Wiccans to employ a stick. Inmates are encouraged by priests to keep altars in their cells that include candles and incense, before which they can meditate.

The list of religions recognized by the corrections system includes all the world's major faiths, as well as more obscure ones such as Druidry, Rastafarianism and Hare Krishna, according to a new corrections report.

The service even has a policy to apply when an inmate declares that he or she is a satanist. "They have a right to believe what they believe and to have access to some of the written material that is available," said Christina Guest, a spokeswoman for the correctional service's chaplaincy program. But she said no satanic ceremonies are allowed in the prisons.

Wiccan leaders stressed that the religion is all about celebrating nature, adopting a sense of personal responsibility and using magic for positive ends. Evil spells and devil worship have no more to do with Wicca than with Catholicism or Islam, they say.

"That's all nonsense that was dreamed up in the Middle Ages by people who were eating too much rotten rye bread, or something," said Gina Ellis, president of the Pagan Federation of Canada.

"People who believe there are witches in the gothic sense who are in league with dark forces -- they're the ones who have a bit of a problem."

Some Wiccan inmates have tried to evade blood tests for the presence of drugs by claiming that their bodily fluids are sacred. But Wiccans say there is no basis for such assertions in their religion.

Practice of the faith seems generally to have a positive influence on many offenders, Wiccan priests say.

"The people who are in prison are there because society and especially society's religious institutions, the mainstream ones, have failed them," said Richard James, a high priest with the Wiccan Church of Canada.

"They see Wicca as sort of their last chance."

With roots in pre-Christianity paganism, Wicca is a 20th century religion whose followers believe in a number of gods and goddesses and focus their worship on nature and the changing seasons.

Ms. Ellis noted especially that the faith's focus on goddesses can smooth the edges of offenders who tend to have an excess of testosterone.