Patel v. U.S. Bureau of Prisons

• Citation: 515 F.3d 807
• Decision Date: 04 February 2008
• Docket Number: No. 06-3819.,06-3819.
• Parties: Kamal K. PATEL, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES BUREAU OF PRISONS; Linda Sanders, Warden, FCI-Forrest City; Rebecca Lewis, Chaplain, FCI-Forrest City; Rochelle Cecil, Assistant Food Service Administrator, FCIForrest City; Ringwood, First Name Unknown; Chaplain Collier, First Name Unknown; Gregory Thompson, Associate Warden, FCI, Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit)

515 F.3d 807

Kamal K. PATEL, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES BUREAU OF PRISONS; Linda Sanders, Warden, FCI-Forrest City; Rebecca Lewis, Chaplain, FCI-Forrest City; Rochelle Cecil, Assistant Food Service Administrator, FCIForrest City; Ringwood, First Name Unknown; Chaplain Collier, First Name Unknown; Gregory Thompson, Associate Warden, FCI, Appellees.

No. 06-3819.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: October 18, 2007.

Filed: February 4, 2008.

Connie L. Johnson, argued, St. Louis, MO, Patrick Kenny, on the brief, for Appellant.

Gwendolyn D. Hodge, AUSA, argued, Little Rock, AR, for Appellees.

Before LOKEN, Chief Judge, GRUENDER and BENTON, Circuit Judges.

GRUENDER, Circuit Judge.

Inmate Kamal K. Patel brought this lawsuit against the United States Bureau of Prisons ("BOP") and certain prison officials ("Bureau Defendants") at the Federal Correctional Institution in Forrest City, Arkansas ("FCI-Forrest City"). He sought injunctive relief and monetary damages on the grounds that they vitiated his right to practice his religion by failing to provide him with appropriate meals in compliance with his religious beliefs. The district court¹ granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment on all claims, and Patel appeals. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Patel, a Muslim, was a federal inmate at FCI-Forrest City.² After his transfer to FCI-Forrest City in 2004, he repeatedly requested dietary accommodations so that he could maintain a particular type of Islamic diet.

"The Bureau provides inmates requesting a religious diet reasonable and equitable opportunity to observe their religious dietary practice within the constraints of budget limitations and the security and orderly running of the institution and the Bureau through a religious diet menu." 28 C.F.R. § 548.20(a). In furtherance of this regulation, Program Statement 4700.04 states:

3. Hot Entree Availability. To the extent practicable, a hot entree shall be available to accommodate inmates' religious dietary needs, e.g., Kosher and/or Halal products. Hot entrees shall be offered three times a week and shall be purchased precooked, heated in their sealed containers, and served hot. Cooking of any other food items is not permitted in the Common Fare program.

Program Statement 4700.04(3) (emphases omitted). The BOP consulted with various religious leaders, including Muslims, and researched the beliefs and practices of numerous faiths in extensive detail. As a result, the BOP developed a cost-effective plan designed to accommodate all of the estimated thirty-one religious groups represented in the prison system. The BOP offers two meal plans, the "main line" and the "Common Fare." The main line contains a hot bar. Participants in the main line plan may choose a no-flesh/vegetarian option, where inmates self-select vegetarian items from the hot bar. The Common Fare meals are kosher meals. Common Fare participants may not select items from the hot bar, but they may supplement their diets by selecting items from the salad bar or by purchasing items from the commissary.

The BOP decided to serve kosher meals in the Common Fare plan after reviewing the dietary requirements of various religious faiths. It concluded that a kosher meal was the strictest diet and subsumed all other religious dietary needs.³ Local prisons may not make changes to the Common Fare plan; such changes must occur pursuant to the BOP's direction, not at individual prisons. Program Statement 4700.04(2).

Patel converted to Islam while in prison and now believes that he must consume a halal (or "lawful") diet, which prohibits the consumption of pork and other items deemed haram (or "unlawful"). Some forms of Islamic dietary restrictions are stricter than others. For instance, some schools of Muslim thought claim that the Qur'an permits the eating of kosher meat that is lawful to Jews, an interpretation of Sura 5:5 ("The food of those who have received the Scripture is lawful for you, and your food is lawful for them."). Patel's belief in a halal diet demands the strictest type of ceremonial and cleanliness requirements. His halal diet does not allow him to consume any meat unless the animal has been slaughtered during a prayer to Allah. Generally, vegetarian dishes are halal unless they have been otherwise contaminated, such as coming into contact with haram, foods or being cooked or served in containers that have been in contact with haram foods without being properly cleaned. Such cross-contamination renders the halal foods haram.

Patel argues that none of the BOP's meal options meets his religious requirements. First, he claims that the main line option contains no halal foods because the vegetarian items available on the main line, which would otherwise be halal, have been cross-contaminated by prisoners dropping bacon into the vegetarian items or using their hands to serve themselves. Additionally, Patel claims the pans containing vegetarian items are cross-contaminated from other food preparation and have not been cleaned properly. Second, Patel claims that the Common Fare option is also unsuitable because it usually contains kosher meat entrées (ten of the fourteen dinner meals in a two-week schedule), not halal meat entrées. Occasionally the Common Fare entrees are kosher vegetarian entrées (four of the fourteen meals in a two-week schedule), which are also halal vegetarian entrées.

Additionally, Patel has the option of purchasing halal entrees, which are readily available in the commissary. The Common Fare menu states, "Shelf stabilized meals from the Commissary may be used as a substitute for hot entrees." The commissary sells food to inmates, and inmates who purchase food may substitute those entrées from the commissary for the kosher entrées they would otherwise receive. The prison's commissary provides four halal vegetarian entrées that cost between two and three dollars each. The record shows that the commissary carries pasta with garden vegetables for $2.43, cheese tortellini for $2.70, Florentine lasagna for $2.70, and vegetable stew for $2.94. Patel claims, "[I]f I had to purchase those on a daily basis, I think the cost would be prohibitive."

Patel's administrative requests to the BOP focused on providing halal meat entrees as a substitute for kosher meat entrees.⁴ He did, however, also make administrative requests for any non-contaminated food options, either halal meat or halal vegetarian. He also asked that kosher meat entrees be replaced with halal vegetarian commissary meals at the BOP's expense, which he would otherwise have to purchase. We note that Patel's second amended complaint requested injunctive relief to "permit him to buy halal food items from commissary," but he obtained a voluntary dismissal of that count. Finally, he asked for the right to visit the hot bar to self-select vegetarian dishes on days when the Common Fare entrée was a kosher meat entrée, even though Common Fare participants were not otherwise allowed to visit the hot bar. This request appears to contradict Patel's earlier allegations regarding the hot bar because Patel previously had complained that the hot bar contained haram, cross-contaminated vegetables. Patel argues that this offer was an attempt to compromise and does not reflect accommodation consistent with his true religious beliefs regarding haram food. Regardless, the BOP and Bureau Defendants rejected Patel's requests, asserting that their compliance with the Program Statement accommodates all religious dietary needs.

Patel filed a complaint raising a variety of constitutional and statutory claims related to the practice of his Islamic faith including claims about his inability to obtain a halal diet. He brought the claims against the BOP and the Bureau Defendants to whom he had previously complained through the administrative process. As relevant to this appeal, which Patel limited to his halal dietary claims, Patel brought a Bivens⁵ claim based on an alleged violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and statutory claims under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act ("RFRA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000bb et seq., and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act ("RLUIPA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000cc et seq. He argued that the BOP's meal plan substantially burdened his ability to practice his religion through an appropriate diet. He also brought a Bivens claim under the equal protection component of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, asserting that the BOP's decision to implement a meal plan that accommodated a kosher diet but not his halal diet was discriminatory. Finally, he brought a Bivens claim under the Establishment Clause and argued that providing kosher meals in prison amounted to a practice respecting the establishment of the Jewish religion. He sought monetary damages along with injunctive relief. The district court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment on all claims, and Patel appeals.

II. DISCUSSION

We review the district court's summary judgment decision de novo. Kilpatrick v. King, 499 F.3d 759, 767 (8th Cir.2007). Summary judgment is appropriate if no genuine issue of material fact exists and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Freeman v. Ace Tel. Ass'n, 467 F.3d 695, 697 (8th Cir.2006). "[T]he evidence must be such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Depositors Ins. Co. v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 506 F.3d 1092, 1094 (8th Cir.2007) (internal quotation omitted). We view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Freeman, 467 F.3d at 697. "[T]he nonmoving party must present more than a scintilla of evidence and must advance specific facts to create a genuine issue of material fact for trial." Williams v. City of Carl Junction, 480 F.3d 871, 873 (8th Cir.2007) (internal quotation omitted).

Bivens allows for a cause of action for damages...