Monday, May 08, 2006

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Decisions

In Sanders v. Zeller, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26425 (ND Iowa, April 28, 2006), an Iowa federal district court rejected a free exercise claim brought by a Muslim inmate who was denied the right to attend one week's Friday Jummah service because of an error in recording of his religious preference on jail records.

In Jordan v. Lynn County Jail, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26358 (ND Iowa, April 20, 2006), an Iowa federal district judge accepted a magistrate's recommendation to deny summary judgment to jail officials on an inmate's claim that he should have been allowed to attend Christian church services even though he also wanted to observe Muslim religious practices.

In Clark v. Levesque, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25917 (D. Conn., March 17, 2006), a Connecticut federal district judge denied a Rastafarian prisoner's claim that his free exercise rights were violated when Connecticut prison officials, experiencing overcrowding at in-state facilities, transferred him to a federal correctional facility in Virginia with a strict grooming policy that disciplined him for refusing to cut his hair and shave. The court also rejected his claim that his treatment upon his return to a Connecticut prison was retaliation against him for practicing his religion.