In Rose v. Wilkinson, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15235 (ND Ohio, July 27, 2005), a prison warden who was demoted sued Reginald Wilkinson, Director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, alleging that he used his position to promote Christianity in violation of the Establishment Clause. Plaintiff claims that Wilkinson led employees and inmates in Christian prayers during training and other secular state events, held mandatory employee training in Christian churches, ordered wardens to promote the Promise Keepers program, a Christian proselytizing event, in Ohio prisons, and required employees to support a religion-based offender reentry plan. As a result of these claimed violations, Plaintiff argues that he was wrongfully demoted. One of the charges in his letter of discipline was that he ordered inmates to watch the Promise Keepers broadcast.
In this decision, the court dismissed without prejudice the claims regarding the warden's discipline, demotion and fallback rights because those claims, which were also made in his Ohio Court of Claims case, are better left to that court. The federal district court retained jurisdiction over Plaintiff's claim for prospective injunctive and declaratory relief.
