Prison Substance Abuse Program OK Under Establishment Clause

In Gray v. Johnson, (WD Va., Nov. 9, 2005), a Virginia federal district court Magistrate recommended dismissing a prisoner's Establishment Clause challenge to the operation of a required substance abuse program at Botetourt Correctional Center. His opinion found that, in response to a 2002 court decision, prison authorities had adequately removed the religious content from its Therapeutic Community Program: "The TC Program at BCC appears to strike a constitutionally permissible balance between advancing and inhibiting religion by allowing inmates to express their own religious views without preaching to other inmates. There is no dispute that the purpose of the TC Program is secular..... Plaintiffs have not provided evidence that they have been forced to support or participate in religion. Isolated instances where religion is referenced do not rise to the level of rendering the entire TC Program contrary to constitutional standards." He also found that defendants have qualified immunity as to any claim for monetary damages.