Judge orders priests must get access to Wisconsin prisons for Mass, sacraments – Catholic World Report

For the first time in 15 months, priests in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee will be allowed into Wisconsin’s prisons to offer Holy Mass and administer sacraments to inmates under an order signed Monday by a circuit court judge. Clergy and other visitors have been barred from Wisconsin correctional facilities since March 2020 under a state policy aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19. The Archdiocese of Milwaukee sued the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and its secretary, Kevin A. Carr, on May 7, 2021 in Jefferson County Circuit Court. Archdiocese attorneys argued the visitor policy infringes on constitutionally protected religious liberty and runs afoul of state statutes that guarantee clergy access to prisons. Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge William F. Hue ruled the Archdiocese of Milwaukee must be given access to state prisons once a week, effective immediately. He signed a provisional writ of mandamus compelling the Department of Corrections to grant the clergy access. The order does not apply to the other four Catholic dioceses in Wisconsin. It will remain in effect as the case proceeds in circuit court. “The Department of Corrections cannot ignore the Legislature’s command that clergy have a privileged right of access to its facilities for purposes of ministering to the needs of Wisconsin’s inmates,” said Anthony F. LoCoco, deputy counsel for the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, which represents the archdiocese. “We are grateful for the court’s action today, which will ensure that meaningful religious services can be timely offered.”

Judge orders priests must get access to Wisconsin prisons for Mass, sacraments – Catholic World Report