In Eley v. Herman, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44963 (ND Ind., June 21, 2006), an Indiana federal district court dismissed a prisoner's free exercise and RLUIPA claim that his rights were violated when he was not permitted to observe the Friday Jumu'ah prayer service during lunch times. The court permitted the plaintiff prisoner, Gregory Eley, to introduce more evidence on his complaint that the county jail refused to provide him a Koran. The court held that while the jail had no obligation to furnish religious materials to Eley, if he could show that the jail's Christian chaplain was acting under color of law in furnishing Christian material to inmates, Eley might have an equal protection claim.
In Gray v. Johnson, (WD Va., June 30, 2006), a Virginia federal district court rejected an inmate's Establishment Clause challenge to the Therapeutic Community Program (a 12-step program for those with a history of substance abuse) in which the inmate was required to participate in order to accrue good conduct time. Plaintiff John Martin claimed that fellow participants pressured him to adopt religious beliefs during mandatory group meetings. However the court found that TCP serves the important, secular purpose of rehabilitation, and that there is no indication that the program failed to strike the necessary constitutional balance between the inmates' right to speak and their right to be free from state-sponsored religious indoctrination. (See prior posting on Magistrate Judge's recommendations.)
