Cert. Denied In Prisoner Free Exercise Case

Among the cases in which the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari today was a prisoner free exercise case-- Washington v. Corrections Corporation of America, (Docket No. 07-5911). (Order List). The 10th Circuit in its Oct. 3, 2006 opinion rejected an Oklahoma prisoner's claims because he had not used prison grievance procedures to exhaust his administrative remedies, as required by the Prison Litigation Reform Act. According to the 10th Circuit, prisoner Marvin Washington claimed, among other things:

that as a "Black Hebrew Isralist [sic]" he was arbitrarily denied a Kosher diet and the use of prayer oils.... He contends that he was informed that only Islamists and Wiccans could receive prayer oils and that only Jews could be served a Kosher diet. Finally, [he] contends that the prison grocery's more than 300 percent markup of certain items violated his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, as well as the state and federal usury laws, and RICO.