Here is a new group of prisoner free exercise cases:
In Shilling v. Crawford, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40845 (D. Nev., June 13, 2006), a Nevada federal district court permitted a Washington state prisoner who had been incarcerated for 18 months in Nevada to proceed against some of his named defendants in his claim that his free exercise and equal protection rights were infringed when he was denied kosher food. He alleged that the prison denied kosher food and other Judaic services to prisoners who were not born Jewish, while the prison accommodated religious dietary needs of other religious groups.
In Pinkston-El v. Snyder, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41183 (SD Ill., March 28, 2006), an Illinois federal Magistrate Judge recommended that the First Amendment and Equal Protection claims of a prisoner challenging the Illinois Department of Corrections grooming policy be dismissed. Plaintiff, a member of the Moorish Science Temple wished to wear his hair in dreadlocks. Prison officials pointed to the problem that this posed in searching for possible contraband.
In Shawn K. Odneal TDCJ-CID #917382 v. Dretke, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41536 (SD Tex., June 21, 2006), a Texas federal Magistrate Judge dismissed Free Exercise, RLUIPA and Equal Protection claims of a prisoner who claimed he was denied the opportunity to attend Native American religious ceremonies regularly because prison authorities failed to have enough chaplains and also refused, alternatively, to let him conduct the ceremonies himself with prison personnel present.
In Simon v. Miami County Incarceration Facility, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41889 (SD Ohio, March 8, 2006), an Ohio federal Magistrate Judge held that a prisoner’s claims that equal religious services were not provided to various faiths should be dismissed for lack of evidence.
