A transgender inmate serving a 55-year sentence for strangling his 11-month-old stepdaughter to death filed a civil lawsuit against the prison chaplain for allegedly prohibiting him from wearing a hijab outside his immediate bed quarters, despite identifying as a Muslim woman.
Autumn Cordellionè, also known as Jonathan C. Richardson, is currently serving out his sentence at the Branchville Correctional Facility, an Indiana Department of Correction state prison for men.
According to the lawsuit filed Nov. 30 and obtained by Fox News Digital, a prison chaplain told Richardson the hijab was not allowed to be worn outside his immediate bed area. Richardson is seeking $150,000 in damages and the ability 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,” Richardson said in the lawsuit.
The chaplain then proceeded to inform 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 in America,” Richardson alleged in the complaint.
“I practice a diversity of faiths in order to custom tailor my spiritual beliefs to my spiritual needs,” Richardson said in the lawsuit.
Richardson claimed his 14th amendment, or equal protection clause, was violated by the chaplain’s alleged refusal to let him wear the hijab.
“Male Islamic practitioners are allowed to wear their kufis across the facility, and are not restricted to their bed areas only,” the complaint stated.
He further alleged the chaplain violated his Eighth Amendment rights against cruel and unusual punishment and claimed he was subject to “harassment and ridicule” by other Muslim prisoners.
“He should be aware, as Chaplain, the stigma and shame that is attributed to Islamic women when they go uncovered and without a hijab [sic],” Richardson wrote in the complaint.
“Women are viewed as whores, tempters of men, and adulterators; by Islamic society both in and out of prison. I have been shunned, made a social pariah, and amongst my own religious community.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Indiana Department of Corrections for comment from the chaplain, but the facility said they do not comment on pending litigation. The chaplain also could not be reached.
Fox News Digital previously reported Richardson, who was convicted of reckless homicide after strangling his 11-month-old stepdaughter to death in 2001, was suing the Indiana Department of Corrections for not granting his wish to get sex reassignment surgery. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is representing Richardson in that lawsuit.
