Meyer v. Teslik
| Decision Date | 26 January 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 05-C-269-C.,05-C-269-C. |
| Citation | 411 F.Supp.2d 983 |
| Parties | Kurt W. MEYER, Plaintiff, v. Mark TESLIK, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Wisconsin |
Kurt W. Meyer, Fox Lake, WI, Pro se.
Diane L. Milligan, Assistant Attorney General, Madison, WI, for Defendant.
In this civil action for declaratory and monetary relief, plaintiff Kurt Meyer, an inmate at the Fox Lake Correctional Institution in Fox Lake, Wisconsin, contends that defendant Mark Teslik deprived him of his right to freely exercise his religious beliefs between June 26, 2004 and October 1, 2004, in violation of the First Amendment and 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc-1, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. Jurisdiction is present under 28 U.S.C. § 1331.
This case, now before the court on defendant's motion for summary judgment, boils down to a single question: Did defendant intentionally omit plaintiff's name from the list of inmates authorized to attend group religious services? The parties dispute the answer to this question; therefore, defendant's motion must be denied.
As a preliminary matter, I note that defendant has proposed facts regarding procedures in place prior to plaintiff's transfer to the institution and procedures initiated after the period of time at issue in this lawsuit. To the extent that these facts provide context for the dispute in this case, they have been included; otherwise, immaterial facts have not been considered. From the parties' proposed findings, I find the following facts to be material and undisputed.
At all times relevant to this lawsuit, plaintiff Kurt Meyer was incarcerated at the New Lisbon Correctional Institution in New Lisbon, Wisconsin. He is now incarcerated at the Fox Lake Correctional Institution in Fox Lake, Wisconsin. Plaintiff observes Native American spiritual practices.
Defendant Mark Teslik is employed by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections as chaplain of the New Lisbon Correctional Institution, a position he has held since April 4, 2004. Defendant Teslik's duties include administering programs to meet the spiritual and rehabilitative needs of offenders; assisting, coordinating and training community-based organizations and volunteers who provide programs directed at offenders; and performing administrative activities that support religious programming, such as coordinating pastoral visits and processing inmate requests for religious materials. In addition, defendant Teslik ministers to offenders by making "cell-front rounds" and providing inmates with an orientation to the institution and to volunteer services provided to inmates.
The New Lisbon Correctional Institution is a medium security prison. It was dedicated on April 2, 2004, and began receiving inmates on April 5, 2004.
When defendant assumed his duties at the institution on April 5, 2004, limited work had been done with respect to religious programming. Because defendant was a new employee of the Department of Corrections, it was necessary for him to receive orientation regarding departmental and institutional rules and policies when he arrived in April 2004. During his first two weeks of employment, he needed to set up his office: he had no office furniture, computer or staff.
When defendant arrived at the prison, he began to organize the Umbrella Religious Group Services, which served Protestant, Catholic, Islamic, Native American, Jewish, Buddhist, Pagan and Wiccan inmates. During the first several months of his employment, defendant solicited the services of volunteer spiritual leaders from the community who were endorsed by and affiliated with particular religious groups. In addition, he worked to secure the services of paid spiritual leaders, who were responsible for conducting religious services for various denominations.
Defendant is an experienced pastor and chaplain, who has educated himself and has been educated about various religious traditions and practices, including Native American spirituality.
When inmates arrive at the New Lisbon Correctional Institution, they are required to complete a religious preference form. According to institution policy, a copy of each form is supposed to be given to defendant; a second copy is supposed to be placed in the inmate's social services file. Defendant's inmate clerk files these forms.
When defendant first arrived at the New Lisbon Correctional Institution, he received requests for religious services from inmates in several ways. Some inmates sent him interview/information request forms and others wrote to him directly.
Before an inmate could attend a group religious service, defendant had to add the inmate's name to a list of authorized attendees. When defendant first arrived at the New Lisbon Correctional Institution, he taped the weekly sign-up sheets on the walls in the prison housing units. Inmates would sign up for activities on these sign-up sheets each week and defendant would collect the sheets after the inmates had signed their names.
In June 2004, defendant was assigned an inmate clerk who began to compile and type the weekly rosters. At some point during the summer of 2004, as increasing numbers of inmates signed up to attend religious services, the clerk began checking rosters of attendance at religious services against the religious preference forms on file for each inmate. Because defendant had been told that inmates were not permitted to attend religious services unless they had completed a religious preference form, he provided blank forms to inmates who expressed a desire to attend services but who did not have a religious preference form on file.
Sometime in July 2004, defendant announced that he would no longer tape sign-up sheets on the wall. He announced that inmates who wished to attend religious services should write to him indicating the activities they wished to attend. Defendant then began using a typed roster listing the name, time, date and location of every religious service and the name, inmate number and housing location of each inmate authorized to attend each service. Each week the inmate clerk, working under defendant's supervision, would update the list of activities and inmates approved to attend them.
Weekly religious activity rosters continue to be the means by which defendant tracks religious programming and participation. If an inmate wishes to attend a religious activity, he may send a written request to defendant, asking for his name to be added to the list. Each week, defendant reviews the completed roster and distributes it to the movement observation station sergeant, the sergeant of each housing unit, the control station and the supervisors.
The Wisconsin prison system permits the following Native American religious services: talking circles, pipe and drum ceremonies and sweat lodge ceremonies. Peace pipe ceremonies are incorporated into the sweat lodge. Drum ceremonies are generally run by the inmates. Pipe ceremonies have deeper religious significance and are usually led by a Native American spiritual advisor. Native American inmates may also practice their religion through personal meditation, fasting, correspondence with other believers and requests to abstain from work or programming.
The first Native American talking circle was held at the New Lisbon Correctional Facility on June 12, 2004. Talking circles were also conducted on July 16, 2004 and August 7, 2004. Beginning September 17, 2004, pipe and drum services were held weekly. The prison held its first sweat lodge on October 8, 2004. Plaintiff participated in that ceremony.
Plaintiff arrived at the New Lisbon Correctional Institution on May 25, 2004. He completed a religious preference form on June 28, 2004. (Defendant does not remember seeing this form until September 29, 2004.) On at least two occasions during the summer of 2004, plaintiff sent defendant requests to attend religious services. On August 12, 2004, defendant responded to one of these requests, stating that he had added plaintiff to the list of inmates authorized to attend services. In fact, he had not done so.
On September 19, 2004, plaintiff submitted inmate complaint number NLCI-04-30562, alleging that defendant had violated his First Amendment right to practice his religion by denying him participation in Native American religious services. Plaintiff alleged that he had written to defendant twice, in addition to completing his religious preference form. After plaintiff filed his complaint, inmate complaint examiner Jill Sweeney contacted defendant to discuss plaintiff's allegations. She summarized her conversation with defendant as follows:
Chaplain Teslik was contacted regarding [plaintiff's] complaint. He stated that the inmate had submitted a religious preference form on 6/28/04, however had not been added to the list to attend services. When questioned regarding the inmate's allegations of several correspondence between the inmate and the chaplain (including interview requests from the chaplain indicating he had been added to the list for services) the chaplain was unsure of such correspondence and was unable to locate any documentation. He stated that he would add the inmate to the list for this week (October 1st services) and would notify the inmate of this. Based on the above, recommendation is made to affirm this complaint at this time.
On the evening of September 28, 2004, defendant made a special trip to plaintiff's unit. He spoke with plaintiff, told him that he was sorry plaintiff's name had not been placed on the Native American service list and promised to add plaintiff's name to the list immediately. On September 29, 2004, defendant...
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