Sunday, July 22, 2018

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

In Shepard v. Allison, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117425 (ED CA, July 13, 2018), a California federal magistrate judge dismissed, with leave to file an amended complaint, an inmate's claim that his request to change his name for religious reasons was denied.

In Croghan v. Branion, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117387 (ED CA, July 12, 2018), a California federal magistrate judge dismissed, with leave to file an amended complaint, an inmate's claim that he was not allowed to wear a religious artifact.

In Turner v. Schofield, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117673 (WD TN, July 16, 2018), a Tennessee federal district court dismissed a Muslim inmate's complaint that he was not issued passes to attend religious services when he used his Muslim name rather than his committed name, as well as his complaint about halal meals.

In Dorman v. Aronofsky, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118161 (SD FL, July 13, 2018), a Florida federal magistrate judge recommended that a Jewish inmate be permitted to move ahead with his complaint for an injunction growing out of his inability to sign up for and participate in Passover diet and services.

In Jones v. West, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118633 (ED WI, July 17, 2018), a Wisconsin federal district court allowed a Muslim inmate to move ahead with his complaint about a policy change that limited dissemination of notice about multi-day religious meal accommodation and congregate meal dates, and his complaint about being denied inclusion on the Ramadan bagged meal program.

In Young v. Smith, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 119068 (SD GA, July 17, 2018), a Georgia federal magistrate judge held that a Native American inmate should be permitted to move ahead with his complaint that he was prohibited from smoking kinninnick in his weekly prayer ceremonies, that previously approved sacred items were confiscated, that his prayer practices were interfered with, that he was only allowed a Bible or Qur'an (not Native American sacred books) while in Tier II confinement, and his complaint of religious retaliation.