For the past six months, LeRoy Schweitzer and two other Freemen have been able to communicate with the world outside the Yellowstone County Jail only by letter.

The three have refused to give a full set of fingerprints to jail officials and to allow themselves to be photographed.

Because of their lack of cooperation, they must stay in their cells 23 hours a day, they cannot talk on the phone and cannot have visitors. Schweitzer's daughter, Brandi, has not been able to visit her father since last September.

Schweitzer's mother, Mary Schweitzer, asked for and received permission to visit him briefly in December. In early March she said he looked healthy, but declined to answer further questions. She died March 31. LeRoy did not seek permission to attend the funeral.

Although Schweitzer has been cut off from visits with his family, friends and with the press, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana doesn't believe Schweitzer's civil rights have been violated.

"The courts have said people who are in the charge of the state have few rights and privileges," said Scott Crichton of Billings. "Privileges are often expanded with cooperation. It's an incentive to comply."

Schweitzer is making a statement about his "absolute opposition to the sovereignty of the people incarcerating him," Crichton said.

"But like it or not, they're sovereign," he said. "They are a legitimate government."

Yellowstone County Jail Commander Dennis McCave made the decision to deny visitations to Freemen who refused to follow booking procedures.

It was an unprecedented decision, which McCave said was justified because other prisoners are required to follow the rules.

While sitting in jail, Schweitzer has prepared most of the "offense" he will use when he goes to court to face a 40-count federal indictment, one of his supporters said.

Schweitzer has rejected help from court-appointed lawyer, Tony Gallagher of Great Falls. Gallagher said he has not spoken with Schweitzer. He will step in as the Freeman leader's lawyer only if Schweitzer is ejected from the courtroom.

The Freemen are preparing an offense -- not a defense -- to tell their story in their own way, using their own language and their own perception of the legal system, says Randy Parsons of the Billings Freedom Center, a clearinghouse for anti-government group information.

"You have to understand there are two systems, legal and lawful," Parsons said. "They (the federal government) don't have the jurisdiction ... to try the sovereigns."

Schweitzer and the 23 other Freemen will go on trial in U.S. District Court in Billings, perhaps as early as this spring and summer. They are charged with bank and mail fraud and threatening to kidnap a federal judge, among many other charges.

The Freemen's backers at the center have purchased law books for them.

"We got every wing (in the jail) a copy," said Parsons, one of four people who staff the center.

The law books for the Freemen cost more than $1,000. The money came from Freemen supporters and from Parsons' own funds, he said.

"I don't know how anyone could put together an offense without the law books," Parsons said.

Most of the paperwork already has been submitted, Parsons said. More than 120 documents have been filed with the U.S. District Court in Billings, the Yellowstone County clerk and recorder and the Court of International Trade.

Schweitzer believes he should be tried by a panel of three judges and has made that request. According to the Freemen's view of the law, one judge can't hear questions of alleged unlawful detention, Parsons said.

Checks allegedly written to pay bills are foreign bills of exchange, Parsons said. If that fact is accepted, the issue of whether the checks are valid must be heard by the Court of International Trade rather than the U.S. District Court, Parsons said.

From reading Schweitzer's letters, Parsons says the Freeman leader appears to be in good condition.

"He's in good health and good spirits," Parsons said. "They all are. They're very close to their creator.

"What this whole thing shakes down to is the right to worship," Parsons said. "They're being denied the right to follow God's law, the founding fathers' beliefs."

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