ARLEE, MT - A sociologist and University of Washington associate professor told the state Corrections Advisory Council the state prison system needs to respect American Indian culture and traditions to help rehabilitate female inmates.

"Eliminate the repression of native culture that goes on in the women's prison," said Luana Ross, a Salish who wrote a book critical of the prison system, based in part on her research at the Montana Women's Prison more than a decade ago.

"Let (American Indian) prayer leaders go into the prison," she said at a meeting Tuesday. "I witnessed a prison staff member that called native religions 'voodoo.'"

American Indians represent 6 percent of the state's population, but make up 17 percent of the state's male inmates and 26 percent of female inmates. Ross suggested hiring female officers for night shifts and seeking treatment instead of punishment for substance abusers.

"If you are really serious about corrections, we need a focus on rehabilitation," she said. "Prison is not doing (addicts) any good."

Ross' research led to a book, "Inventing the Savage: The Social Construction of Native American Criminality." Her niece, Lucy Leptich Cruz, 32, told the council she was subject to derogatory remarks and abusive behavior while she served prison time on a drug charge.

"I spent my whole life being proud of being native," Cruz said. "But it didn't take very long (for corrections officials) to reverse that pride."

Corrections officials at the meeting were sympathetic to much of what Ross and Cruz said, but added that things have changed since Ross did her original research in the early 1990s, and even since Cruz was in prison four years ago.

Sen. Steve Gallus, D-Butte, who chaired Tuesday's meeting in the absence of Lt. Gov. John Bollinger, noted that treatment centers that target methamphetamine addicts are being built, one in Boulder for women and one in Lewistown for men. He said a 50-bed "assessment and sanction center" that is now within the women's prison is being moved to a private facility in Billings.

In February, the state announced plans to hire a liaison between the prison system and American Indian reservations as part of an effort to reduce the number of Indians behind bars. The idea was modeled after one in Lethbridge, Alberta.

The liaison would work with Indians charged with crimes, to help them better deal with the courts and corrections process and understand their rights and options to negotiate lesser sentences.