May v. Baldwin, 95-35860
| Citation | 109 F.3d 557 |
| Decision Date | 19 March 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 95-35860,95-35860 |
| Parties | 97 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 2006, 97 Daily Journal D.A.R. 3697 David L. MAY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. G.H. BALDWIN, Superintendent Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution; Strogham, Hearings Officer at EOCI; Al Chandler, Administrator, Oregon Department of Corrections Classification and Transfer Division; M. Barth, Captain, Oregon Department of Corrections Transportation Manager; J. Ramsey, Lieutenant Oregon Department of Corrections Transportation Program Assistant Manager, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (9th Circuit) |
Cheryl O'Connor Murphy, Howrey & Simon, Los Angeles, California, for the Plaintiff-Appellant.
Richard D. Wasserman, Assistant Attorney General, Salem, Oregon, for the Defendants-Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, Robert E. Jones, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-94-00664-REJ.
Before D.W. NELSON and TROTT, Circuit Judges, and BRYAN, * District Judge.
Oregon state prisoner David May appeals the entry of summary judgment for George Baldwin, the Superintendent at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution ("EOCI"), and other officials at EOCI (collectively, the "prison officials") in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action seeking damages and declaratory and injunctive relief. May contends that, under the standards mandated by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act ("RFRA"), 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb-1 (1994), the prison officials violated his free exercise rights when they required him to unbraid his dreadlocks for a search. In addition, May cites further violations of his First, Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm the grant of summary judgment for the prison officials.
May practices Rastafarianism, a Christianity-based religion that mandates certain lifestyle practices derived from the Bible. In accordance with the tenets of his religion, May wears his hair in the uncut, uncombed style known as dreadlocks. The prison officials neither contest the sincerity of May's religious beliefs nor dispute that maintaining dreadlocks forms a fundamental part of the exercise of Rastafarianism.
May was incarcerated at EOCI from March 1, 1994 until October 15, 1996, when he was transferred to Bannock County Jail in Pocatello, Idaho. May was returned to the Oregon Correctional System on March 3, 1997. Currently, he is incarcerated at the Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario, Oregon. Oregon Department of Corrections administrative rules provide that "all inmates will be subject to a search on each occasion before and after they leave a Department of Corrections facility, and on each occasion before and/or after visits, entering or exiting the Disciplinary Segregation Unit and/or before or after contact with persons outside the facility." Or.Admin.R. 291-41-020(4) (1991). According to the regulations governing these searches, "[i]f a hair search needs to be conducted by staff, it may be necessary to require that the inmate unbraid or loosen the hair to complete the search." Or.Admin.R. 291-123-015(2)(b) (1993). The regulations also state that prison officials should use nonintrusive sensors to detect weapons or narcotics whenever appropriate in order to "avoid unnecessary force, embarrassment, or indignity to the inmate." Or.Admin.R. 291-41-010(8), 291-41-020(5) (1991).
In 1994, May was scheduled for a series of medical appointments involving removal of a vocal chord tumor and follow-up treatment after the surgery. The incidents giving rise to May's free exercise claim center on his reluctance to loosen his dreadlocks for searches before transport to medical facilities outside of EOCI.
On March 24, 1994, transport officers ordered May to unbraid his dreadlocks for a search, and he refused. The prison officials report that May stated he "could not take his dreadlocks out" because they "had been that way for four years." At the time, May did not explain that the dreadlocks had religious significance. The officials declined to transport May to his medical appointment, issued a misconduct report for violation of inmate rules, and placed him in the Disciplinary On May 17, 1994, May again refused to undo his dreadlocks for a search in preparation for transport. He had been given a day's notice of the requirement to undo his hair, but he refused to comply. He stated that he was "not going on no med trip, and if I am I'm not going to remove my braids." He also explained that "it would take a long time to remove" his braids. May did not, however, claim that religion motivated his resistance. After a disciplinary hearing, May was sanctioned to seven days in DSU, loss of recreation yard privileges while in DSU, loss of privileges for 14 days upon release from DSU, and a $25 fine.
Segregation Unit ("DSU") pending a disciplinary hearing. May was later sanctioned to seven days in DSU and loss of privileges for 21 days after his release from DSU.
On May 18, 1994, May informed the prison officials in writing that the Rastafarian religion required him to wear dreadlocks. May had not previously raised a religious objection to the regulation. However, prior to May 18, May had filed repeated requests not to be scheduled for any medical transports absent extreme urgency because the conflict over such transports "jeopardized his freedom."
On other occasions, May had complied with the command to loosen his dreadlocks. He unbraided his hair on March 28, 1994, when returning to DSU from a medical trip, on April 25, 1994, when brought to DSU after a disciplinary hearing, and on May 17, 1994, when placed in his cell in DSU. When he submitted to these hair searches upon entry to DSU, May already was under sanction for his initial refusal to undo his dreadlocks.
For their part, the prison officials have sometimes waived the requirement that May undo his dreadlocks before transport. On March 21, 1994, EOCI's superintendent directed guards to transport May without loosening his dreadlocks because May had an urgent medical condition. May claims that there were at least three other incidents when he was transported outside of EOCI without changing the style of his hair. Specifically, May points out that the prison officials did not require him to undo his dreadlocks before his transfer to Bannock County Jail.
In addition to his free exercise claim, May complains of several constitutional deficiencies in his treatment at EOCI. He alleges that the prison officials violated his First and Eighth Amendment rights when he lost the privilege of access to the general prison library. May also cites Fourth Amendment violations based on visual strip searches, raises due process concerns about his placement in DSU and an alleged mental health classification, and claims that he was discriminated against in the provision of medical care on the basis of race. Furthermore, May issues a wide-ranging Eighth Amendment challenge to the conditions of his confinement: He claims that he is denied the opportunity to exercise, that he does not have access to medical treatment, and that he is not provided with adequate food, water, or sanitation.
May filed suit against the prison officials on June 13, 1994, seeking both damages and equitable relief. On March 1, 1995, the prison officials moved for summary judgment. They argued that dreadlocks endanger prison security because they provide a hiding place for weapons, escape devices, or drugs that cannot be detected by means other than loosening the braids. The prison officials also asserted qualified immunity from liability for damages. On August 7, 1995, the district court granted the prison officials' motion for summary judgment on each of May's claims.
May originally brought this action as a pro se litigant; the Ninth Circuit appointed pro bono counsel for the purpose of pursuing the RFRA portions of his appeal.
We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Bagdadi v. Nazar, 84 F.3d 1194, 1197 (9th Cir.1996). We must determine, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to May's claims, whether there are any genuine issues of fact and whether the district court correctly applied RFRA. Id. We do not endeavor to weigh the evidence; we need only determine whether there is a factual dispute that precludes summary judgment. See Anderson v.
Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2511, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Jesinger v. Nevada Fed. Credit Union, 24 F.3d 1127, 1131 (9th Cir.1994). The district court's finding of qualified immunity is reviewed de novo as well. Act Up!/Portland v. Bagley, 988 F.2d 868, 871 (9th Cir.1993).
RFRA provides that the government "shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability" unless the government demonstrates that application of the burden to the person "(1) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest." 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb-1. The purpose of RFRA is "to restore the compelling interest test as set forth in Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398, 83 S.Ct. 1790, 10 L.Ed.2d 965 (1963) and Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 92 S.Ct. 1526, 32 L.Ed.2d 15 (1972) and to guarantee its application in all cases where free exercise of religion is substantially burdened." 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb(b)(1).
The strict scrutiny standard set forth in RFRA controls our analysis of whether the hair search procedure at EOCI violated May's free exercise rights. Congress debated and rejected an amendment that would have exempted prisons from RFRA's stringent test, and our earlier cases interpreting RFRA have made clear that the act governs the conduct of prison...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Quiroga v. Graves
...Resnick v. Hayes, 213 F.3d 443, 448-49 (9th Cir. 2000) (quoting Sandin v. Conner, 515 U.S. 472, 483 (1995)); see also May v. Baldwin, 109 F.3d 557, 565 (9th Cir.1997) (mere placement in ad-seg not enough to state claim after Sandin). Here, Plaintiff's description of his Ad-Seg cell -- "with......
-
Adkins v. Kernan
...or effects, a temporary denial of outdoor exercise is not substantial enough to give rise to an Eighth Amendment claim. See May, 109 F.3d at 565. Because Plaintiff does not allege facts establishing experienced medical effects from the lack of regular outdoor exercise, Plaintiff's claim can......
-
Norwood v. Cate, CASE NO. 1:09-cv-00330-AWI-SAB (PC)
...serious to support an Eighth Amendment claim, Thomas, 611 F.3d at 1155; Norwood, 591 F.3d 1062, 1070 (9th Cir. 2010); May v. Baldwin, 109 F.3d 557, 565 (9th Cir. 1997); Allen, 48 F.3d at 1088, but the deprivation of exercise for a period of six weeks can support a claim, Allen, 48 F.3d at 1......
-
Saavedra v. Kernan
...in the general prison population instead of administrative segregation. See Hewitt, 459 U.S. at 466-68; see also May v. Baldwin, 109 F.3d 557, 565 (9th Cir. 1997) (convicted inmate's due process claim fails because he has no liberty interest in freedom from state action taken within sentenc......
-
RLUIPA at four: evaluating the success and constitutionality of RLUIPA'S prisoner provisions.
...gang activity to promote a secure and safe prison environment is indisputably a compelling interest."). (177.) See, e.g., May v. Baldwin, 109 F.3d 557, 563 (9th Cir. 1997) (noting that maintaining prison security is a compelling government interest); Hamilton v. Schriro, 74 F.3d 1545, 1552 ......
-
Inmates' religious rights: deference to religious leaders and accommodation of individualized religious beliefs.
...F. Supp. 353, 357 (E.D. Tex. 1994). "this test[ is] known as the `compelling governmental interest' test." Id. (171) See May v. Baldwin, 109 F.3d 557, 563 (9th Cir. 1997) (citing pre-RFRA Supreme Court case law indicating prison security constitutes a compelling state interest); Davie v. Wi......