10th Circuit Rules For Native American Inmate In Cogent Review Of RLUIPA's Requirements

In a highly articulate 31-page opinion by Judge Gorsuch in Yellowbear v. Lampert, (10th Cir., Jan. 23, 2014), the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday reviewed each element of a RLUIPA prisoner's rights claim and reversed the trial court's summary judgment against a Native American inmate. Here is the court's description of the case:

Andrew Yellowbear will probably spend the rest of his life in prison. Time he must serve for murdering his daughter. With that much lying behind and still before him, Mr. Yellowbear has found sustenance in his faith. No one doubts the sincerity of his religious beliefs.... 

That takes us to the nub of our case. Mr. Yellowbear, an enrolled member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe, seeks access to the prison’s existing sweat lodge to facilitate his religious exercises. The prison has refused. The prison’s sweat lodge is located in the general prison yard and Mr. Yellowbear is housed in a special protective unit (not because of any disciplinary infraction he has committed, but because of threats against him). Prison officials insist that the cost of providing the necessary security to take Mr. Yellowbear from the special protective unit to the sweat lodge and back is “unduly burdensome.” Mr. Yellowbear disagrees and seeks relief under RLUIPA. For its part, the district court discerned no statutory violation and entered summary judgment against Mr. Yellowbear. Mr. Yellowbear asks us to undo that judgment so that his case might proceed to trial.

At the end of the day, we find that’s exactly the relief we must provide.

AP reports on the decision.

Court Orders Florida Prisons To Provide Kosher Diet Alternative

In an important prisoner free exercise decision last week, a federal district court granted a preliminary injunction ordering the Florida Department of Corrections to provide a kosher diet by July 1 to all prisoners with a sincere religious basis for keeping kosher.  The decision comes in what appears to be the first Justice Department suit directly against a state for violation of the prisoner provisions of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. In United States v. Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, (SD FL, Dec. 6, 2013), the court held that the United States was likely to prevail on the merits of its claim that Florida's religious diet policy violates RLUIPA.

The court held that Florida had not shown a compelling interest in a blanket denial of kosher food to prisoners-- in part because the state argued somewhat inconsistently that it was committed to providing kosher meals to all eligible inmates. The court also rejected Florida's argument that it had a compelling interest based on cost savings, saying:

While cost control may be a compelling interest in certain situations ... RLUIPA expressly contemplates that facilitating religious exercise "may require a government to incur expenses in its own operations.''.... The costs initially identifed by Defendants in this litigation are not of a compelling magnitude.... Even if participation were ... 1,000 prisoners per day - the cost would only be $2.12 million per year, or .001 of FDOC'S budget. No compelling interest is furthered by avoiding such a relatively minor expense....

The court additionally held invalid several provisions in a proposed religious diet program that the state had developed while the litigation was pending.  These include conditioning eligibility on clergy interpretations of religious doctrine or on prisoners' knowledge of religious law; summary suspension of prisoners from the program if they consume any item not listed as kosher; and removal from the program of prisoners who eat less than 90% of available meals, even if they consume only kosher food.  (See prior related posting.) [Thanks to Luke Goodrich for the lead.]

Suit Settled Allowing Christian Group To Use Building To House Recovering Addicts and Their Children

Alliance Defending Freedom announced this week that it has reached a settlement with the city of Hattiesburg, Mississippi in a suit challenging the city's refusal to rezone or provide a special use permit for a Christian organization to use a building it purchased for overnight housing of women who are recovering from addiction and their children. The complaint (full text) in Lighthouse Rescue Mission, Inc. v. City of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, (SD MI, filed 5/3/2013) claimed that the zoning denials violated RLUIPA, the federal Fair Housing Act and the speech and religion protections in the federal and state constitutions. The order and settlement agreement (full text, filed 11/7/13) permits Rescue Mission to house allows it to use the building for overnight housing and related ministry operations.