Azeez v. Fairman

• Decision Date: 22 January 1985
• Docket Number: 81-2185.,No. 81-2184,81-2184
• Citation: 604 F. Supp. 357
• Parties: Qaid Rafeeq AZEEZ, Abdullah Muhammad, Plaintiffs, v. James W. FAIRMAN, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Central District of Illinois

604 F. Supp. 357

Qaid Rafeeq AZEEZ, Abdullah Muhammad, Plaintiffs, v. James W. FAIRMAN, et al., Defendants.

No. 81-2184, 81-2185.

United States District Court, C.D. Illinois, Danville Division.

January 22, 1985.

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Qaid Rafeeq Azeez, pro se.

Abdullah Muhammad, pro se.

Steven Kehoe, Asst. Atty. Gen., Chicago, Ill., for defendants.

FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND FINAL ORDER

BAKER, Chief Judge.

The plaintiffs, Qaid Rafeeq Azeez and Abdullah Muhammad, who are inmates of the Illinois Department of Corrections, complain that the defendants' policy of using the plaintiffs' "committed names", Stanley Russell and Jessie Fields, respectively, and punishing the plaintiffs for their refusal to use or respond to their committed names, unconstitutionally restricts their expression and exercise of their religious beliefs. The defendants, J.W. Fairman, J.E. Wright, and A. Dodge are administrators and correctional officers of the Illinois Department of Corrections. At the times of the occurrences complained of, the plaintiffs were residents of the Pontiac Correctional Center. The plaintiffs testified to disciplinary proceedings and denial of privileges associated with their use of their Muslim names. The plaintiffs argue that the Department of Corrections has shown no compelling state interest in refusing to acknowledge the plaintiffs' religiously based name changes. Thus, the plaintiffs claim that the defendants unreasonably restricted their religious freedom.

The defendants assert that the "committed name" policy is based on the institutional concerns of security and administrative efficiency. According to the defendants, Muslim name changes are a "matter of personal opinion" and not a "religious necessity." Thus, balancing the correctional interests and the inmates' religious needs, the defendants claim that they have not unduly restricted the plaintiffs' religious practices. The defendants state that the policy of granting identification cards and maintaining records with an a/k/a (also known as) designation grants sufficient recognition to the plaintiffs' new names. In addition, the defendants claim they are entitled to official immunity.

I.

The plaintiffs testified, and the court finds, that members of the Muslim community, upon embracing Al Islam, commonly adopt new names which reflect an "attribute of God" and which signify their new commitment. This practice has a basis in the Quran, and Wallace D. Muhammad, the chief minister of the nation of Islam, has urged the Muslim faithful to follow it. See Attachments to Plaintiffs' Memo of Law.

Both plaintiffs have adopted Muslim surnames since their incarceration. The plaintiff Muhammad testified that he has been an adherent of Islam since the 1960's, but did not change his name until his commitment to the Department of Corrections. The plaintiff Azeez has been through an Illinois judicial proceeding based on statute which resulted in a court order formally changing his name. Plaintiffs' Exhibit 2. These name changes are a result of the plaintiffs' sincere adherence to Al-Islam, and these name changes have religious significance to them.

Richard Ores, the identification supervisor at Pontiac, issued an identification card to Azeez, following his change of name, bearing only his Muslim name. The prison administrators then decided that an a/k/a designation should be used on the plaintiffs' identification cards. The policy of the Department of Corrections was to recognize only "committed names". Defendants' Exhibits A-13, A-14, and M-3. The plaintiffs insisted that they wanted identification cards bearing only their Muslim names. The defendants, however, offered evidence, and the court finds, that the plaintiffs each accepted identification cards bearing both their Muslim and committed names during June of 1981. Plaintiffs' Exhibits 8-9. The plaintiffs also insist that their institutional records should bear their Muslim names. Plaintiffs' Exhibits 18-19.

However, the writ of mandamus issued by the state court commanding prison officials to recognize and honor plaintiff Azeez's new name, further orders that no changing of institutional records is required. Plaintiffs' Exhibit 2. The defendant, J.W. Fairman, who was Warden at Pontiac at the time, ordered that the plaintiffs were to use "committed names" on all institutional documents but could use their new religious names in addition to their committed names. Plaintiffs' Exhibits 18-19.

The defendants justify the disciplinary action against the plaintiffs on the ground that the plaintiffs refused to obey valid orders. In addition, the defendants point out that the plaintiff Muhammad disfigured his identification card and threatened the institutional staff. Plaintiffs' Exhibit 33.

The plaintiffs testified that they were denied access to the law library, Plaintiffs' Exhibits 10, 11, and 23, the commissary, Plaintiffs' Exhibits 4-7, 19 and 28, "sick call," the clothing room, religious activities, Plaintiffs' Exhibits 15 and 21, and notary services, Plaintiffs' Exhibit 27, and that their identification cards were confiscated, Plaintiff's Exhibit 20, because of the defendants' refusal to recognize the plaintiffs' name changes. The defendants offered evidence that privileges were refused only when the plaintiffs refused to sign their "committed names" along with their Muslim names.

II.

The defendants seemed to claim at trial that the plaintiffs occupied different positions in this case because the plaintiff Muhammad had not obtained a court order changing his name. That claim is without substance. The Illinois statutory provisions regarding name changes, Ill. Rev.Stat. ch. 96, are only permissive and do not abrogate the common law right to change a name without a formal application. Reinken v. Reinken, 351 Ill. 409, 184 N.E. 639 (1933); see also Thomas v. Thomas, 100 Ill.App.3d 1080, 1081, 56 Ill.Dec. 604, 427 N.E.2d 1009 (1981). The common law name change is valid, however, only if the change does not interfere with the rights of others by serving a fraudulent purpose. Chaney v. Civil Service Commission, 82 Ill.2d 289, 294, 45 Ill.Dec. 146, 412 N.E.2d 497 (1980). The defendants made no showing of any fraudulent purpose behind the plaintiff Muhammad's name change, although they alleged generally that name changes could be confusing. That argument goes more toward the defendants' institutional security and efficiency arguments justifying a "committed name" policy rather than to show a requirement for Muhammad to change his name in a court proceeding. The plaintiffs stand on the same footing as each other in this case.

The defendants also dispute, to a certain extent, the reasons underlying the plaintiffs' name changes. In particular, plaintiff Muhammad, a long-time adherent of Islam, was questioned as to why it took him so long to change his name. Muhammad testified as to the use of "X" by followers of Malcolm "X" to signify cancellation of the names used prior to accepting Islam. Muhammad said that current religious practice requires the use of an Islamic name. The defendants argue that Muslim name changes are "purely a matter of personal opinion and not a matter of religious necessity". The defendants state many Muslims have never changed their names. Defendants' Brief, Page 4.

In Masjid Muhammad-D.C.C. v. Keve, 479 F.Supp. 1311 (D.Del.1979), the leading reported case regarding Muslim name changes among prisoners, the district court discussed change of name and its role within Islam. The court stated that "protected religious expression encompasses more than orthodox or institutionalized practices." Id. at 1323. "To be protected, a particular form of religious expression need not be mandated by one's religion or even endorsed by a majority of its adherents, so long as it is an expression of a sincere, religiously based conviction." Id. See also Stevens v. Berger, 428 F.Supp. 896, 899 (S.D.N.Y.1977); Theriault v. Silber, 391 F.Supp. 578, 580 (W.D.Tex.1975). Neither federal courts nor prison administrators are authorized to determine the orthodoxy of religious beliefs and expressions. Masjid Muhammad, 479 F.Supp. at 1323; see also Fowler v. Rhode Island, 345 U.S. 67, 70, 73 S.Ct. 526, 527, 97 L.Ed. 828 (1953); Teterud v. Burns, 522 F.2d 357, 360 (8th Cir.1975).

The recent case of Salahuddin v. Coughlin, 591 F.Supp. 353 (S.D.N.Y.1984), is distinguishable. In Salahuddin, two plaintiffs testified that they did not use their Muslim names consistently and that use of their committed names was not religiously offensive to them. Another plaintiff had used several Muslim names and desired future Muslim name changes at his whim. Id. at 358. Accordingly, the court upheld the policy of recognizing only statutory name changes in order to avoid confusion and simplify record keeping. Id. at 359.

The plaintiffs' testimony in this case revealed that acknowledgment of their non-Muslim names is religiously offensive to them. The plaintiffs testified that their Muslim names reflect their new spiritual identities and the types of lives they hope to lead. They interpret the Quran as condemning the use and recognition of their old surnames. Inconsistency of religious practice among Muslims regarding the adoption of religious names and the acknowledgment due to previous non-Muslim names certainly is not fatal to the plaintiffs' case. See Masjid Muhammad, 479 F.Supp. at 1323. Thus, the adoption of new Muslim names is part of the practice of the plaintiffs' Islamic faith and is sufficient to invoke First Amendment protection. See Africa v. Pennsylvania, 662 F.2d 1025, 1029-30 (3rd Cir.1981). In addition, no evidence was received that the plaintiffs were not using their adopted Muslim names in a consistent manner.

The defendants further assert that the "committed name" policy, including the use of a/k/a designations, serves a compelling state interest in institutional...