(tense music)
- [Trish] There were no words or concept behind it.
Incarceration was so foreign
to what any Native nation has ever experienced.
(singing) (drums beating)
- [Tawna] We have such a high population
of indigenous people in prisons.
Per capita we are just highly overrepresented
in the prison system,
and we needed to do something different about that.
(singing) (drums beating)
- [Trish] One of our most important roles here is
the cultural and spiritual programming
that we do within our state prisons.
Native American spirituality and culture,
it can help us transform our lives.
What does it mean to be a strong Native woman
or to be a strong Native man?
What does it mean to be a warrior?
We carry all the ancestors
from the beginning of time within our DNA
and so when people are able to connect,
and identify then they're able to say,
this is who I wanna be
and so they start working on changing.
- [Tawna] For many, many years in this country,
there were laws developed to essentially stop us
from practicing our culture, our spirituality.
The attempt was to "kill the Indian, spare the man."
That's literally the statement that was made.
- In the 60s and 70s, there was a big resurgence of culture
and of pride.
There was resistance.
- [Tawna] So the American Indian Religious Freedom Act
in 1978 basically allowed us
to practice our spirituality in the open,
but it also forced things like
the Department of Corrections
to allow that into the lives of those Native people
who were imprisoned.
And so, Red Lodge, amongst many others across the country
have been trying to really help facilitate that.
- [Shana] It's hard being here, it's very hard being here.
And the more that I come back it only,
I feel like, gets harder.
- Hello, good morning. - Hi, good morning.
- Good morning. - Good morning.
- Good morning.
- [Shana] We just try to make sure
that we try to keep connected,
keep our circle and our sisters strong
and who wants to be there, is gonna be there.
You know what I mean?
Trish Jordan is our volunteer here
and she does a whole bunch for not just our facility,
but for all the facilities.
- [Trish] I was approached by one of the chaplains
at Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution,
they had women over there
while they were building Coffee Creek.
And he called and said,
"I got your name as a spiritual practitioner,
would you be willing to come and run sweat lodge ceremony
for the women that we have over here."
They had about 150 women at EOCI at that time.
(singing) (drums beating)
It was very eye opening to me
when during ceremony, you know, things get shared
that are very private and recognizing
that most of these women didn't have a choice.
They left home at a very young age,
they had violence in their home,
they had substance abuse in their home,
all of these things.
And now they're getting ready to be released
and they don't have anywhere to go.
- You guys bring all the lovely spirits
and happy thoughts and the will to keep going in here.
- I've come a long way since last year.
I'm getting out in August,
and I'm really looking forward to moving on
and living sober, coming back to Warm Springs
and living on the res with my brothers.
- [Trish] There's nothing in our history
that is indicative of incarceration.
We practiced restorative justice.
It's just about recognizing the connection
that everybody and everything around you has.
Can it be a learning experience
rather than a punitive experience?
(bells chiming) (drums beating)
I said to the chaplain,
these women need to be fed their spiritual food.
Even if it's just a little bit on a plate.
(sizzling)
- Then they put down the deer meat
and we put it in order.
- I just really feel blessed today to be amongst you guys,
to honor the foods, our salmon, our meat, our roots
our berries, sacred foods.
- Those are dig roots that we went and digged.
- [Trish] As a registered nurse,
understanding traditional medicines,
I truly believe that everything we need comes
from the earth.
There may be 100 people that touched that food
and that helped prepare that food.
And a lot of people don't realize what goes on
behind the scenes.
- [Trish] That's one right there,
that's one right there, there.
- Geez, good digging too.
- Yeah.
I'm looking for the piaxi' though.
- The way I look at it, our food is spiritual.
So my hope and prayer would be that,
by feasting on the foods,
that that's something that's gonna help them
to be more, that will bring them back.
When they get out that will draw them back
to their land, wherever their land is.
(ambient music)
(water burbling)
(singing)
- I was in, used to be incarcerated.
I've been incarcerated
at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility twice,
and that's the women's prison.
And then Trish was right at the door to pick me up.
Red Lodge was there,
so I've been a part of Red Lodge since.
Volunteering, anything I can do to give back.
- [Prison staff] I just wanna make sure the inmates get
the best they can get because this is Christmas to them,
they look forward to this all year.
- [Trish] Absolutely.
- [Tawna] So many things in many,
many prison systems are about volunteers coming in.
So it's that coordination of volunteers
that makes that happen.
- [Prison staff] Thank you.
- [Prison staff] Perfect, thank you very much.
I see a roach spreader with feathers.
- [Volunteer] Here is the roach and the feathers.
- [Prison staff] Fantastic.
You are good to go sir.
If you just need to check-in go ahead and go out.
- Okay.
(singing)
- [Powwow visitor] (indistinct)
- I love you, mom.
(bells chiming) (drums beating)
- [Powwow emcee] All right, let's have a round of applause
for our dancers.
- [Tawna] The resurgence
of our traditional spiritual practice,
it's not about bringing something new in.
It's about reminding people what they had,
and bringing it back for people who didn't have access
at one point or another.
Because relocation, termination brought a lot of people
to urban areas and we lost a lot of that capacity.
- [Trish] We lost so much of it,
there was a song for everything,
there was meaning and protocol to everything.
But what we have left, we need to pass on.
And so, hopefully, the women that we work with
or the men that we work with,
they're gonna go home and they're gonna continue
to seek out community and ceremony
and pass that onto their children.
(ambient music)
(inmates chattering)
(metal clanking)