Childs v. Duckworth

• Decision Date: 26 May 1983
• Docket Number: No. 81-1496,81-1496
• Citation: 705 F.2d 915
• Parties: Donald Lee CHILDS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jack DUCKWORTH, Sally Wenzel, and Robert Bronnenberg, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 915

705 F.2d 915

Donald Lee CHILDS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jack DUCKWORTH, Sally Wenzel, and Robert Bronnenberg Defendants-Appellees.

No. 81-1496.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Nov. 12, 1982.

Decided April 20, 1983.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied May 26, 1983.

Allen Tuckey (Law Student), Univ. of Chicago Law School, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff-appellant.

David L. Steiner, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, Ind., for defendants-appellees.

Before PELL and CUDAHY, Circuit Judges, and BARTELS, Senior District Judge. ^*

BARTELS, Senior District Judge.

Donald Childs, an inmate at the Indiana State Prison and an alleged member of the satanic church, ¹ appeals from an order of the district court for the Northern District of Indiana (South Bend Division) denying him injunctive and declaratory relief under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 against three prison officials who had denied him the right to practice his professed religious beliefs and, in connection therewith, to receive certain religious articles, and from the court's refusal to appoint counsel. The district court held that Childs' beliefs do not constitute a religion entitling them to First Amendment protection, that they were not sincerely held, that the prison authorities were justified in imposing certain restrictions upon Child's practice of his professed beliefs, and finally that the prison authorities acted properly in denying him access to the interlibrary books for group study. Because we affirm on the ground that the restrictions imposed by the prison authorities did not violate his First Amendment rights, we need not address the other issues except the court's refusal to appoint counsel.

PRIOR PROCEEDINGS

There is little disagreement on the facts in this case. Childs has been incarcerated in correctional institutions since 1964 and at the Indiana State Prison since 1969. ² He is a self-proclaimed satanist and claims to have become one in 1964. According to Childs he believes in revenge and in the "basic concepts of life" which other orthodox religions consider evil. He also believes man and woman are one, human beings are both God and Satan and Satan rules the earth. He claims his religion has a structure based on degrees and that it is grounded on written religious dogma, including a satanic Bible. He is secretive about his religious practices but does acknowledge burning incense and candles, sacrificing cats and pigeons, and casting spells to retaliate against others.

In the prison Childs has held informal meetings with other inmates at which they have discussed satanism and the occult, and he has procured approximately 200 books on the general topic of satanism. The prison authorities have not interfered either with these informal discussions or with Childs' procurement of reading material on the subject.

In a memorandum to the warden dated August 5, 1976, Childs claimed he belonged to "Thee Satanic Church of LaVey, California," ³ and he requested permission to start a satanic church at the prison. The warden held his request in abeyance pending Childs' obtaining adequate supervision for the proposed organization. In his appeal of this delay to the prison's Action Committee, Childs changed his story somewhat and claimed his affiliation was with "Thee Satanic Church" of Chicago, Illinois.

Three years passed before Childs made a second request. Then, in November, 1979, he requested meetings of an organization called "The Satanic Brotherhood." That request was denied by Assistant Warden Rentschler on November 13, 1979, and on November 25, 1979, Childs submitted the same request to the prison's Special Services, which was denied by Assistant Warden of Programs Bronnenberg on March 11, 1980 and by the prison's Executive Review Committee on March 12, 1980. One reason given for the denial of Childs' requests for services was the lack of a proper sponsor for the group. Indiana State Prison procedures, while allowing additional outside sponsors for some inmate organizations, also require staff sponsors for every organization. The rationale for staff sponsors is that staff know prison rules and they provide continuity for the group's activities. Another reason for denying services for Childs was the prison officials' complete lack of information about the proposed organization. Prison rules require considerable detail about any organization and the mechanics of operating its meetings, including a proposed meeting place and an indication of what activities will occur before a request for a meeting can be approved. In his request for services, Childs failed to provide any meaningful information about his group. Additional reasons prison authorities gave for denial of services included the absence of any other inmates making a request for satanic services, their belief that satanism was not a religion ⁴ and that Childs was insincere in his requests, and their determination that the worship of satanism would be contrary to the rehabilitative goals of the Indiana Department of Correction.

In November, 1979, Childs requested certain books on satanism through the interlibrary loan system for the purpose of group study. The director of the prison library denied his request on the ground that books obtained through the interlibrary loan procedure are only for personal use, not group study. Later, Childs was also denied permission by the Assistant Warden of Operations to order a crystal ball on the ground that it could be used as a weapon. On May 27, 1980, Childs made an additional request of the Assistant Warden of Operations to be allowed candles and incense for use in his cell. This last request was denied because candles and incense are only authorized for use under proper supervision in the chapel and are not permitted in any inmate's cell.

In April, 1982, Childs filed his complaint. At that time and once again shortly before trial, he requested counsel, which request was denied on the ground that Childs had a clear understanding of the case. After a one-day trial, the district court dismissed the action. ⁵

I

As previously indicated, we need not reach the question of whether satanism, or more specifically Childs' belief, is a religion, although the prison officials and the district court decided it was not. ⁶ Rather our concern, assuming his belief is a religion, is whether the prison restrictions were such that they unlawfully deprived Childs of his First Amendment right to the free exercise of his religion. In this connection we are mindful that while freedom to believe is absolute, the exercise of religion is not, Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296, 60 S.Ct. 900, 84 L.Ed. 1213 (1940); Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145, 25 L.Ed. 244 (1878); Sharp v. Sigler, 408 F.2d 966 (8th Cir.1968); United States v. Kuch, 288 F.Supp. 439 (D.D.C.1968), and that prison officials may legitimately impose certain restrictions on the practice of religion in prison, including the right of association, which would be unconstitutional if imposed outside the prison. Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 545-46, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 1877, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979); Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 556, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 2974, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974); Pell v. Procunier, 417 U.S. 817, 822, 94 S.Ct. 2800, 2804, 41 L.Ed.2d 495 (1974). For instance, in Jones v. North Carolina Prisoners' Labor Union, Inc., 433 U.S. 119, 125-26, 97 S.Ct. 2532, 2537-38, 53 L.Ed.2d 629 (1977), the Supreme Court stated:

Perhaps the most obvious of the First Amendment rights that are necessarily curtailed by confinement are those associational rights that the First Amendment protects outside of the prison walls. The concept of incarceration itself entails a restriction on the freedom of inmates to associate with those outside of the penal institution. Equally as obvious, the inmate's "status as a prisoner" and the operational realities of a prison dictate restrictions on the associational rights among inmates.

The issue then is whether the restrictions imposed on the exercise by Childs of his professed beliefs were necessary for the operational security of the prison. It has long been held that prison administrators must be given wide-ranging deference in the operation of penal institutions. Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. at 547-48, 94 S.Ct. at 2970. Rehabilitation and internal security have always been among the legitimate policies and goals of the penal system. Jones v. North Carolina Prisoners' Labor Union, Inc., 433 U.S. at 132, 97 S.Ct. at 2541; Cruz v. Beto, 405 U.S. 319, 321, 92 S.Ct. 1079, 1081, 31 L.Ed.2d 263 (1972); Jones v. Bradley, 590 F.2d 294, 296 (9th Cir.1979). In Pell v. Procunier, 417 U.S. 817, 94 S.Ct. 2800, 41 L.Ed.2d 495, a prison restriction that regulated the media's contact with inmates was unsuccessfully challenged. There the Supreme Court noted:

We start with the familiar proposition that '[l]awful incarceration brings about the necessary withdrawal or limitation of many privileges and rights, a retraction justified by the considerations underlying our penal system.' ... In the First Amendment context a corollary of this principle is that a prison inmate retains those First Amendment rights that are not inconsistent with his status as a prisoner or with the legitimate penological objectives of the corrections system.

Id. at 822, 94 S.Ct. at 2804 (citations omitted).

While every religious sect or group need not be provided with identical facilities for worship, a prisoner must be afforded "a reasonable opportunity of pursuing his faith comparable to the opportunity afforded fellow prisoners who adhere to conventional religious precepts." Cruz v. Beto, 405 U.S. at 322, 92 S.Ct. at 1081. What constitutes "a reasonable opportunity" must be evaluated in light of prison officials' interest in security. Pell v. Procunier, 417 U.S. at 822, 94 S.Ct. at 2804; Jones v. Bradley, 590 F.2d at 296. Prison restrictions that impinge upon a prisoner's First...