Al-Alamin v. Gramley

• Decision Date: 06 March 1991
• Docket Number: No. 89-3381,AL-ALAMI,G,89-3381
• Citation: 926 F.2d 680
• Parties: Mustafaerry Benin Fareed, and Abu Khalid Baseer, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Richard B. GRAMLEY, individually and in his official capacity as Warden of Dixon Correctional Center, Larry E. Sachs, individually and in his official capacity as Deputy Warden of Dixon Correctional Center, Jerry Porter, individually and in his official capacity as Chaplain of Dixon Correctional Center, Michael P. Lane, individually and in his official capacity as Director of Illinois Department of Corrections and Linda A. Giesen, Warden, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 680

926 F.2d 680

Mustafa AL-ALAMIN, Gerry Benin Fareed, and Abu Khalid Baseer, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Richard B. GRAMLEY, individually and in his official capacity as Warden of Dixon Correctional Center, Larry E Sachs, individually and in his official capacity as Deputy Warden of Dixon Correctional Center, Jerry Porter individually and in his official capacity as Chaplain of Dixon Correctional Center, Michael P. Lane, individually and in his official capacity as Director of Illinois Department of Corrections and Linda A. Giesen, Warden, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 89-3381.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Sept. 6, 1990.

Decided March 6, 1991.

Lon Richey, Nelson, Kilgus, Richey & Tusek, Morrison, Ill., for plaintiffs-appellees.

Neil F. Hartigan, Atty. Gen., Gary M. Griffin, William D. Frazier, Asst. Attys. Gen., Chicago, Ill., Michael J. West, Asst. Atty. Gen., Springfield, Ill., Jennifer A. Keller, Asst. Atty. Gen., Civil Appeals Div., Chicago, Ill., for defendants-appellants.

Before WOOD, Jr., CUDAHY, and RIPPLE, Circuit Judges.

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge.

The plaintiffs, three Muslim inmates incarcerated at the Dixon Correctional Center (Dixon) in Dixon, Illinois, instituted this suit pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, against various officers at Dixon and state officials for alleged deprivations of their religious freedoms as guaranteed by the first amendment. The plaintiffs sought damages as well as declaratory and injunctive relief. After a bench trial, the district court awarded plaintiffs one dollar in damages and further ordered Michael P. Lane, the Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections, to submit to the court statewide written guidelines concerning the accommodation of Muslim inmates desiring to practice their religion while incarcerated. The appellants filed a timely notice of appeal. For the following reasons, we reverse the judgment of the district court.

I BACKGROUND

A. Facts

Dixon is a medium-security prison within the Illinois Department of Corrections. At the time of trial, Dixon housed 890 inmates. Approximately twenty to thirty-five of those inmates adhered to the Muslim faith. The plaintiffs desired to practice certain tenets of the Muslim religion during their incarceration at Dixon. They believed that officers at Dixon and state officials (collectively the Dixon officials) failed to accommodate their religious practices. This litigation resulted. The plaintiffs alleged that the Dixon officials violated their first amendment rights by: (1) failing to provide a Muslim chaplain or imam to lead Jumah prayer services; (2) prohibiting an inmate to lead Jumah prayer under the supervision of a non-Muslim chaplain or correctional officer when an imam was unavailable; (3) failing to develop and promulgate reasonable policies and practices regarding Jumah prayer in the absence of a staff or volunteer imam; and (4) prohibiting Muslim inmates to purchase or receive, as a donation from the outside Muslim community, commercially packaged Halal foods for consumption during the fast of Ramadan and the feast of Eid-Ul-Fitr.

We shall describe, albeit in cursory fashion, the above Muslim practices. Jumah prayer is a Muslim service taking place every Friday. Orthodox Muslims gather together on this day, leaving all other business behind. During Jumah prayer, the Holy Quran, the Muslim religious scripture, is read. An imam, the individual responsible for leading prayer in the Muslim community, gives a Khutbah, which is a sermon interpreting Quranic verses. Prayer and meditation are also part of the service. Dixon conducted its first Jumah prayer service on October 18, 1985. Approximately twenty-five to thirty inmates attended the service. Because no imam was present to give the Khutbah, one of the plaintiffs functioned as the imam. The next Jumah prayer service was held the following Friday by a visiting imam. Because no Muslim inmate was permitted to act as imam, Jumah prayer services were then held sporadically. On March 1, 1988, the Illinois Department of Corrections entered into a contract with Imam Abdul-Alim Bashir. The contract compensated him for ministering to the Muslim inmates at Dixon for four hours a week. Imam Bashir lives in Chicago. He alternates between Fridays and Saturdays in going to Dixon each week.

Muslims have certain dietary requirements. Their Halal diet prohibits them from eating any pork, and the meat they do eat must be specially prepared. Dixon accommodates this diet by identifying food containing pork and providing a pork substitute for Muslim inmates.

Certain times of the year are of special religious significance to Muslims. In May and June, Muslims observe Ramadan. Ramadan is a sacred time for Muslims. From dawn to dusk during this sacred time, Muslims abstain from water, food, and sex. They read one-thirtieth of the Quran each day and recite extra prayers during this time. At the conclusion of Ramadan, a special feast, a festival of fast breaking, called the Eid-Ul-Fitr, occurs. During Ramadan, Dixon makes special arrangements to accommodate those inmates desiring to observe the fast. For example, during this time, Muslim inmates eat at approximately 4:00 a.m. and again at 8:30 p.m. Dixon provides prison personnel at those hours to escort the inmates to and from the dining room. Although members of a Muslim community outside the prison voluntarily prepared Halal food for the inmates on prior occasions, Dixon currently allows only commercially prepared and packaged Halal food in its facilities for security reasons.

On February 21, 1989, after a two-day bench trial, the district court awarded one dollar in damages to the plaintiffs and ordered Mr. Lane, the Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections, to submit to the court written guidelines concerning the accommodation of Muslim inmates desiring to practice their religion while incarcerated in the Illinois penal system. The Dixon officials moved to reconsider, alleging, inter alia, that Imam Bashir had been compensated for his travel expenses in his contract with the Illinois Department of Corrections and that qualified immunity shielded them from liability for damages. On September 29, 1989, the court denied the motion to reconsider. The Dixon officials now appeal.

B. District Court Opinion

Acknowledging the Supreme Court's decision in Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 107 S.Ct. 2254, 96 L.Ed.2d 64 (1987), the district court framed the key inquiry as whether the Dixon officials unreasonably restrained the plaintiffs from practicing their religious beliefs. From this perspective, the court evaluated each of the plaintiffs' claims and determined the appropriate relief.

1. Muslim chaplain or imam

The court recognized that, as a general principle, a prison is not required to employ chaplains representing every faith among the inmate population. See Cruz v. Beto, 405 U.S. 319, 322 n. 2, 92 S.Ct. 1079, 1081 n. 2, 31 L.Ed.2d 263 (1972); Johnson-Bey v. Lane, 863 F.2d 1308, 1310 (7th Cir.1988). Nevertheless, relying on this court's decision in Johnson-Bey, ¹ the court commented that the hiring and compensating of full-time chaplains for Catholic and Protestant prisoners, and the concomitant failure to hire or adequately compensate full-time chaplains for Muslims inmates was troubling. See District Court's Order of Feb. 21, 1989 (R.60) at 7. In the district court's view, Imam Bashir was compensated inadequately. He was paid for only four hours per week to minister to the inmates at Dixon, and he was not reimbursed for his travel expenses. As a result, the Muslim inmates had fewer opportunities to observe Jumah prayer service. This treatment did not, held the district court, comport with the standards of Turner. ² Consequently, the plaintiffs' first amendment rights were violated. Id. at 8. In its order denying the motion to reconsider, the court noted the Dixon officials' argument that visiting imams, including Imam Bashir, were compensated for traveling expenses in addition to their salary. Nevertheless, the court continued to maintain that the compensation was insufficient and resulted in fewer opportunities for the plaintiffs to observe Jumah prayer service. See District Court's Order of Sept. 29, 1989 (R.71) at 2.

2. Inmate-led religious services

The district court held that the policy of no inmate-led services was a legitimate regulation that did not infringe on plaintiffs' free exercise right. It noted that this court's decision in Hadi v. Horn, 830 F.2d 779, 784 (7th Cir.1987), upheld the same kind of policy based on legitimate security interests. Nevertheless, again relying upon Turner, the district court believed that allowing inmates to meet for prayer and worship without an imam present while under appropriate supervision was a satisfactory alternative that was currently available at Dixon. The district court acknowledged that this approach was not entirely satisfactory to the plaintiffs because of their belief that Jumah prayer could not take place without a Khutbah. It also noted that the rule against inmate-led prayer might have been formulated with maximum-security institutions in mind rather than medium-security institutions such as Dixon. Nevertheless, the district court believed that it owed deference to the judgment of correctional officials that only prayer sessions led by an imam or supervised by correctional officers were acceptable from a security point of view. See R.60 at 9.

3. Halal food

The district court observed that there was no disputed issue concerning Halal food. The plaintiffs had conceded the reasonableness of the Dixon officials' concerns over hidden contraband in non-commercially packaged foods. Moreover, the plaintiffs were willing to purchase commercially prepared and packaged food for Ramadan and the feast of Eid-Ul-Fitr. The court did indicate, however, that, if Dixon refused to permit the plaintiffs to purchase, at their own...