In Asad v. Crosby, (Nov. 9, 2005), the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a prisoner’s complaint that he was denied his constitutional rights when he was not permitted to pray under a stairwell at a Florida correctional facility. The court found that the prisoner, Siddiq Asad, could instead pray in his cell, that barring him from the stairwell area furthered security interests of the prison, and that other accommodation would have more than a de minimus cost.
In Devine v. Schriro, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27221 (D. Ariz, Nov. 4, 2005), an Arizona state prisoner claimed that his Free Exercise rights were being denied when, despite his sincere religious beliefs, prison officials denied him a Kosher diet because he had not provided letter from a rabbi. The federal district court dismissed the inmate’s claim, but permitted him to refile it within 30 days to allege specifically what the named defendants did to deny his rights.
