In Durham v. Department of Corrections, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21436 (ED Pa., Sept. 28, 2005), a Pennsylvania federal trial court held that a prisoner’s First Amendment religion claim growing out of a search of his cell should be dismissed. The officers searching the cell tore down portraits of Elijah Mohammad and Rev. Louis Farrakahn and made disparaging comments about the religion of Islam. The court found that the portraits were not central to the plaintiff’s religious worship, and tearing them down had no substantial impact.
In Shaheed-Muhammad v. Dipaolo, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21539 (D. Mass, Sept. 28, 2005), plaintiff alleged violations of state and federal religious freedom protections when prison officials, confiscated a religious medallion, failed to provide him with vegetarian meals in accordance with his religious practices; denied him access to The Five Percenter, a newspaper published by the Nation of Islam; and transferred him to another facility in retaliation for asserting his religious freedoms. The court rejected the retaliatory transfer claims, but allowed his other claims to move forward on at least some of the grounds which plaintiff had asserted.
