In Byrd v. Haas, (6th Cir., Nov. 9, 2021),the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a Michigan federal district court's dismissal of RLUIPA, free exercise, equal protection and due process claims brought by an inmate who sought to worship with other inmates of the Ifa faith and to obtain certain religious items for worship. The court said in part:
Between his conversion to the Ifa faith in August 2015 and filing this lawsuit more than two years later, Byrd sent four requests for Ifa group services and nine items that he considers essential to the Ifa faith. These items include, among other things, a straw mat for prayer, herbs, and more beads. How did the Department respond to these requests? It didn’t. Not one made its way to McKee [Deputy Director of the Department of Corrections] for a final decision. And since this lawsuit began, Byrd has filed a fifth request. But the Department hasn’t fully resolved that request either....
... [A] government agency cannot simply end-run judicial review by sitting on its hands and allowing a claimant’s request to languish in a bureaucratic black hole.
