Daily Mail
December 31, 2011
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2080351/Warren-Jeffs-preached-sermons-followers-jail-cell-Christmas-day.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Even from inside his jail cell, polygamist leader Warren Jeffs is still trying to exert power over his followers.
Texas prison officials are investigating whether Jeffs preached to his followers from behind bars on Christmas Day in violation of prison rules, officials said on Thursday.
Jeffs, 56, who is the self-proclaimed 'prophet' of a breakaway Mormon sect, is serving a life sentence for sexually assaulting two girls he wed as spiritual brides when they were 12 and 14 years old at his sect's Texas ranch.
 |
| Power: Convicted paedophile Warren Jeffs has been reportedly dictating to followers from his jail cell, giving two sermons on Christmas day |
He is being held at a unit in East Texas, about 140 miles north of Houston.
'We have confirmed that Jeffs made two 15-minute phone calls on Christmas Day to a relative,' Texas Department of Criminal Justice Institutional Division spokesman Jason Clark said.
'At this point, we're investigating whether he may have circumvented policy and may have spoken to his congregation,' he added.
Such a move, if confirmed by the investigation, would be the latest indication Jeffs was trying to maintain sway over his sect, which has been condemned by the mainstream Mormon Church and accused of promoting marriages between older men and girls.
Clark wouldn't say how officials were tipped off to the possible infraction, but said the department's Office of Inspector General was investigating and Jeffs could face internal punishment including losing his phone privileges.
 |
| Wives: The picture shows dozens of Warren Jeffs's brides, lined up together as if they are posing for a school photograph |
Jeffs' Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which teaches that for a man to be among the select in heaven he must have at least three wives, is estimated to have 10,000 followers in North America.
Jeffs was hospitalized for nearly a month earlier this year for going on a fast that former sect members described as an attempt to communicate to followers across North America of their need to sacrifice on his behalf.
'If the calls he made on Christmas were put on speaker phone or patched through to someone else, that would be a violation of policy'
He is now back in the prison system, where he receives special protection as a high-profile offender.
Texas prison inmates are ordered to adhere to a strict set of rules in using telephones, and are typically allowed to call only ten people on an approved visitation list, Clark said.
'Those people have to have gone through a vetting process, meaning that phone number has to be registered, it has to be registered to a land line,' he added.
'If the calls he made on Christmas were put on speaker phone or patched through to someone else, that would be a violation of policy,' Clark said, adding that recording the conversation would also constitute a violation.
Texas prison inmates are not allowed to possess cell phones, and their telephone activity is monitored to make sure they are not calling crime victims, organizing escapes, or doing anything other than conducting one-on-one conversations with individuals on their approved list.
 |
| Spiritual home: The temple of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Eldorado, Texas |
 |
| Rescued: A group of women church members tearfully embrace after being reunited at Fort Concho, Texas, after the raid on the church |
Jeffs is in protective custody, among the most restrictive forms of imprisonment in Texas.
He's alone in his cell daily and isn't involved in any work programs.
Protective custody inmates, and there are only 85 of them in the 156,000-inmate Texas prison system, are isolated because of serious, direct or proven threats against them.
A month after his conviction, Jeffs filed a handwritten motion seeking a new trial.
He alleges his religious freedoms were violated by the courts, an argument he also tried to make while defending himself during his trial.
Jeffs is scheduled to go on trial on bigamy charges in February in San Angelo, but prosecutors have filed a motion to delay until late 2012 to avoid expense and minimize litigation.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, West Texas Judge Barbara Walther has yet to rule on the motion, which was filed on Wednesday.
The 56-year-old is also said to have filed two 'revelations from God' in hi court cases this week, commanding the court to set him free.
One of the documents state: 'I, your Lord, have seen the conspiring and evil combining, in mind and word and also now in full way of fulfilling, to put my holy servant in prison unto a full lifetime.
'I shall soon lay a heavy hand on all who fight against my priesthood and church.'
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.