An accused child molester is suing the city for $30 mil🍒lion because Rikers Island jail bosses allegedly won’t let him practice his Wiccan religion behind bars.
Roberto Nieves, 47, charged with sodomy, says he’s bei♕ng denied his constitutional right to practice his religion. The modern-day Merlin is su༺ffering “extreme emotional distress,” according to his Brooklyn federal-court lawsuit.
Nieves says guards confiscated books his bro𓆉ther brought him, including a “Wiccan Bible,” his Book of Shadows and a 1987 book called “The Chalice and The Blade.”
Correction officers declared the tomes “detrimental” to other inmates, Nieves claims. When the inmate protested, a guard told him “Wicca was not a religion because she looked it uꦜp on the computer,” according to court papers.
Often referred to as modern-day witches, Wiღcc🐭ans worship nature and use their Book of Shadows to pass down their rituals and rites.
Nieves — who was arrested January in Brooklyn i🎃n a case involving a child under the age of 13, prosecutors said — filed a grievance and was eventually given the books, but he wants to make sure future locked-up wizards don’t suffer෴.
“As of this day, Rikers does not offer any program whatsoever so that I may exercise my religion just like the Christians, Muslims, Catholཧics and the Jewish community here at Rikers Island,” he griped.