In Winford v. Endicott, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80248 (ED WI, Nov. 1, 2006), a Wisconsin federal district court permitted an inmate to proceed with free exercise and equal protection claims stemming from denial to him of his religious books relating to a Satanic faith when he was transferred from one penal institution to another.
In Johnson v. Mulcahy, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80162 (ED Mo., Nov. 2, 2006), a Missouri federal district court dismissed a Muslim prisoner's complaint that the Cape Girardeau County Jail failed to provide religious services for Muslim inmates. All religious services in the jail are provided by community volunteers, and the jail was unable to find volunteers to lead Muslim services.
In Johnson v. Little, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80099 (MD TN, Oct. 16, 2006), a Tennessee federal district court rejected a convicted prisoner's claim that his free exercise of religion is infringed by the state's capital punishment law that calls for him to choose between electrocution or lethal injection as his method of execution, and mandates lethal injection if he fails to choose.
The decision in Nicholas v. Ozmint, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80035 (D SC, March 31, 2006), has recently become available. In it, the court rejected claims by an inmate who was a follower of the Nation of Islam. Plaintiff argued that the institution's policy limiting the number of religious books he could possess and preventing him from receiving new religious literature by mail infringed his free exercise of religion and his rights under RLUIPA. The court disagreed. The magistrate's recommendation in the case is at 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80036 (D SC, Feb. 8, 2006).
In Lindell v. Huibregtse, (7th Cir., Oct. 31, 2006), the Court of Appeals found that claims by a litigious inmate who was a follower of Wotanism were properly dismissed by the lower court. The inmate had objected to the prison's ban on the White supremacist book "88 Precepts", claiming that its ban violated the Establishment Clause, RLUIPA and his free speech rights.
In Gillard v. Kuykendall, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 79590 (WD AK, Oct. 27, 2006), an Arkansas federal district court upheld a prison's policy requiring inmates to clean their cells daily over objections of a prisoner that his religious beliefs prevented him from working on the Sabbath.
In Conyers v. Abitz, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 79210 (ED WI, Oct. 27, 2006), a federal district court held that there are sufficient disputed issues of fact to preclude summary judgment in the claim of a Muslim prisoner that his request to participate in the Ramadan fast was wrongfully rejected because he did not know of the sign-up deadline for being able to participate.
