The suit filed Friday in federal court in upstate New York argues that the April 8 eclipse is an event significant to many religions and that the lockdown violates their constitutional rights to practice their faiths.

NEW YORK (AP) — Inmates in New York are suing the state corrections department over the decision to lock down prisons during next Monday’s total solar eclipse.

The suit filed Friday in federal court in upstate New York argues that the April 8 lockdown violates inmates’ constitutional rights to practice their faiths by preventing them from taking part in a religiously significant event.

The plaintiffs are six men with varying religious backgrounds who are incarcerated at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility in Woodbourne. They include a Baptist, a Muslim, a Seventh-Day Adventist and two practitioners of Santeria, as well as an atheist.

“A solar eclipse is a rare, natural phenomenon with great religious significance to many,” the complaint reads, noting that Bible passages describe an eclipse-like phenomenon during Jesus’ crucifixion while sacred Islamic works describes a similar event when the Prophet Muhammad’s son died.

read more: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/new-york-inmates-are-suing-to-watch-the-solar-eclipse-after-state-orders-prisons-locked-down

        • prole@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          0·
          8 months ago

          Oh… Well I’ll pass. My background in engineering and construction tells me that it would be an awful investment due to liability and cost of maintenance/upkeep, especially given our crumbling infrastructure.

          Thanks for the heads up though. Where do you even find a sale like that, Zillow?

            • prole@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              0·
              8 months ago

              Oh wow. Whoa! You’ve encountered sentient cookies?! And not only that, but they have intellect that surpasses some humans?! I

              That sounds pretty extraordinary; why don’t you have a Nobel prize?

              • Minotaur@lemm.ee
                0·
                8 months ago

                It’s nice that me saying you might be a bit gullible has caused you to entirely intellectually regress

                A bit of a soft baked cookie, if you will.

                • prole@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                  0·
                  8 months ago

                  baked

                  Probably the first and only correct thing you’ve said about me. At least I think… I pretty much immediately lost interest in, and forgot what this little sub-thread is even about. Besides fucking with you.

                  I truly hope that you understood that my last few comments were facetious.

                  • Minotaur@lemm.ee
                    0·
                    8 months ago

                    Yes, I can only hope you’ve been deeply high this whole time. The alternative is concerning.