Prison sweat lodge ceremony may help end addiction cycle

A traditional spiritual ceremony that may help Native prisoners both during their time of incarceration and when they return to their communities was held for the first time at the Maine State Prison this fall. A sweat lodge is now being conducted at the maximum security facility every month, and members of the Sipayik Criminal Justice Commission are hoping that the ceremonies will help in turning the tide of a cycle of drug abuse.

"I believe in order to fight addiction people have to believe in a power greater than themselves," says Denise Altvater, the chair of the commission. For Native people who are addicted to opiates, "the best way to reach them is with their own Native spiritual beliefs. It helps build a bridge between the prison and the community for when they come home. The sweat lodge is the center of our spiritual beliefs. It's what taking communion is for the church. We have to help them find something to believe in, to ground them, to give them hope."

The commission, which was appointed by the Passamaquoddy Tribal Council in 2005, was at first investigating the impact of opiate addiction on the community and the high incarceration rates for tribal members. Arnie Neptune, a Penobscot from Indian Island who was working with a group of Native prisoners so that they could conduct traditional ceremonies while in prison, then asked the commission to help the Sacred Feather Native American Circle in reaching an agreement with prison officials. The Maine Indian Tribal State Commission became involved, and then Passamaquoddy Rep. Fred Moore arranged a meeting with legislative leaders and Sipayik commission members. The Department of Corrections agreed to work on allowing Native ceremonies to be conducted at state prisons. In 2007, Passamaquoddy Rep. Donald Soctomah sponsored legislation to allow for Native religious ceremonies in Maine prisons, and the first sweat lodge was held at the Bolduc minimum security facility in May 2007, with Brian Altvater of Sipayik, Arnie Neptune and David Gehue, a Micmac healer from Nova Scotia, conducting the ceremony.

The legislation was finally enacted in 2008, and a tribal advisory group was formed to guide the Department of Corrections in the traditional Wabanaki ceremonies. The first sweat lodge at the Maine State Prison in Warren was held in September 2008, led by Brian Altvater, Gehue and Newell Lewey. Denise Altvater, who is chair of the advisory group, says, "The people were all amazed at how well everything went." Prison guards, who were respectful and supportive of the ceremony, were surprised at "the turnaround" of some of the prisoners.

Altvater says she has received letters from prisoners since they participated in the sweats. Some have spent much of their lives in prison, she notes. "We want them to come home to the community so they can be a good community member. We want them to come back better than when they left."

Altvater believes that many of the people from Washington County who go into prison are nonviolent drug offenders who are convicted on drug possession or theft charges. "They're coming out as rageful and violent from the abuse and rapes in prison."

Observing that the Native communities and Washington County as a whole have been hit hard by opiate addiction and high unemployment, she says that people who are convicted on Class C felony charges usually end up serving some jail time and also receive probation. They sometimes end up violating their probation conditions because they "can't stay off the opiates."

"They can't find help to stay off the drugs," Altvater says, since she believes that there is a lack of services for helping people fight substance abuse. "The tribe, the courts, the state are not prepared for people going into the system who are addicted."

She says the commission will have to focus on preventing people from going to prison in the first place and to work with people after they are released. When Passamaquoddy prisoners come back to a small community and are still filled with rage and are violent, everyone is affected by their behavior. "We want to start as soon as possible getting them to a place of wholeness and wellness. Our entire future is at stake."

Along with sweat lodges, talking circles and smudging ceremonies are also conducted monthly, both at the Maine State Prison and the Down East Correctional Facility in Bucks Harbor. They are led by Jamie Bissonette, the New England Criminal Justice Program director for the American Friends Service Committee, Brian and Denise Altvater and Pat Phillips-Doyle of Sipayik. Denise Altvater adds that Washington County Sheriff Donnie Smith and Jail Administrator Robert Gross have been very helpful with issues involving the jail, and Pleasant Point Police Chief Joey Barnes has been working with the criminal justice commission to help make changes in the community.

Concerning the effect of participation in the sweat lodges on Native prisoners, Altvater tells about a young man at the Down East Correctional Facility who was in prison for the first time. "His grandmother was very worried about him" and approached her and her husband Brian. "She said, 'I talked to my grandson and he said, 'I'm in a good mood.'" The grandmother asked him how he could be in a good mood in prison, and he said he had finished his first sweat lodge. He said he felt really happy, and his grandmother was amazed at how different he sounded. "It is a life-changing experience," says Altvater. "When you do a sweat, it's one of those things where you never go back."