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Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

By Howard M. Friedman

In Fabricius v. Maricopa County, (9th Cir., Nov. 1, 2010), the 9th Circuit upheld dismissal of a pre-trial detainee's complaint that a jalil's playing of holiday music violated the Establishment Clause.

In Freeman v. Julious, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115367 (ED CA, Oct. 21, 2010), a California federal magistrate judge dismissed, with leave to amend, an inmate's claim that prison authorities failed to comply with his request to receive a Satanic bible and consult with a Satanic clergyman.

In Sylvian v. Florida Department of Corrections, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115183 (ND FL, Oct. 29, 2010), a Florida federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115189, Sept. 28, 2010) and dismissed a Muslim inmate's claim that prison rules requiring him to be clean shaven violate his free exercise rights.

In Hammer v. Johnson, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115483 (WD VA, Oct. 29, 2010), a Virginia federal district court refused to grant an inmate a temporary restraining order he sought so he could received the prison's Common Fare religious diet.

In Planker v. Ricci, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116083 ( NJ, Oct. 29, 2010), a New Jersey federal district court denied an Odinist inmate a preliminary injunction. Plaintiff claimed that Odinist religious services were scheduled to conflict with his lunch time and his outdoor recreation time, in violation of his rights under RLUIPA and the equal protection clause.

In Prentice v. Nevada Department of Corrections, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116248 (D NV, Oct. 19, 2010), a Nevada federal district court relied on a decision last year by a California federal district court (see prior posting) and held that the White supremacist Church of Creativity is not a "religion" for purposes of the First Amendment. It also found that authorities had sufficient reason to bar racist materials for security purposes.

In Soria v. Nevada Department of Corrections, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116866 (D NV, Oct. 19, 2010), a Nevada federal district court permitted a Jewish inmate to proceed with his complaint that prison officials refused his request for outdoor space and for materials that would permit him to put up a sukkah for the holiday of Sukkot.

In McCarroll v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117414 (ND NY, Nov. 4, 2010), a New York federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117418, Sept. 30, 2010), and dismissed on qualified immunity grounds a prisoner's complaint that he should have been permitted for religious reasons to submit a hair or saliva sample, instead of a blood sample, to be tested for tuberculosis.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on November 07, 2010 (boomark / email).