One way that "membership" issues get distorted is seen in the case of prisoners' spiritual practices.

Prison officials (sometimes with cooperation of some Indian staff person or "consultant") have taken the position that they can restrict who has access to a medicine person on the basis of BIA enrollment or other similar factors. Some state statutes are written that way, too (e.g., NM, UT), so that the law "protects" the "right of native american inmates to practice native spirituality" (where "native american" is typically defined by govt "recognition).

In a case here in MASS we are taking the position that any inmate may have access to a medicine person, if the medicine person is willing to meet the inmate. We say that neither the BIA nor the prison officials have any role in determining spiritual matters. We propose a law to "proetct" the "right of inmates to practice native sprituality."

The medicine people I know say that "the pipe does not discriminate." As I understand it, they're saying that "membership" (as in a Circle in the prisons) is a spiritual issue, to which no government agency has an answer.