Gladson v. Iowa Dept. of Corrections

• Decision Date: 08 January 2009
• Docket Number: No. 07-3528.,07-3528.
• Citation: 551 F.3d 825
• Parties: Lawrence GLADSON; Darrell Smith; Scott Howrey, Appellants, v. IOWA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS; Gary Maynard; Kay Kopatich; Ken Burger; John Emmett; Jay Nelson; William Sperfslage; Del Vande Krol; Michael Gilbert; Debbie Farrell, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

551 F.3d 825

Lawrence GLADSON; Darrell Smith; Scott Howrey, Appellants, v. IOWA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS; Gary Maynard; Kay Kopatich; Ken Burger; John Emmett; Jay Nelson; William Sperfslage; Del Vande Krol; Michael Gilbert; Debbie Farrell, Appellees.

No. 07-3528.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: September 25, 2008.

Filed: January 8, 2009.

Rockne Ole Cole, argued, Iowa City, IA, for appellant.

H. Loraine Wallace, AGG, argued, Des Moines, IA, for appellee.

Before WOLLMAN, SMITH, and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges.

SMITH, Circuit Judge.

Lawrence T. Gladson, Darrell Smith, and Scott Everett Howrey, inmates at the Iowa State Penitentiary (ISP) in Fort Madison, Iowa, and practitioners of the Wiccan religion, brought this lawsuit against Assistant Warden William Sperfslage of the ISP. The inmates sought injunctive relief and monetary damages, claiming that the ISP violated their rights under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc-1 et seq. They contend that the ISP unconstitutionally limited their observance of Samhain— the most important of the eight Wiccan holidays—to three hours and that the ISP treatment director limited the quantity of food available for the Samhain holiday. The magistrate judge¹ denied injunctive relief,² concluding that the challenged restrictions did not impose a "substantial burden" on the exercise of the inmates' sincerely-held Wiccan beliefs. The inmates appeal. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm.

I. Background

Gladson, Smith, and Howrey, inmates in the custody of the Iowa Department of Corrections (IDOC) and housed at the ISP (collectively "inmates"), are practitioners of Wicca, a religion that the IDOC now recognizes as a result of Hood v. Kautsky, 4:00-cv-10602 (S.D.Iowa Nov. 21, 2002). In Hood, the ISP officials and Wiccan inmates settled a dispute over whether the ISP would recognize Wicca as a religion. The written settlement agreement acknowledged that the "Wiccan religion is recognized at the [ISP] and treated like other religious groups at ISP." The settlement agreement also "document[ed] the current conditions at ISP," noting that eight Wiccan religious holidays were recognized, four of which the inmates were to celebrate during the weekly religious services, with a "special service" allowed for the other four. One of the "special services" was the Samhain holiday. The ISP was to permit the Wiccan inmates to purchase holiday foods for Samhain and other special services.

Gladson submitted a prison grievance on behalf of the Wiccan inmates, complaining that the ISP had only afforded them three hours to celebrate Samhain instead of eight hours. Gladson believed that the settlement agreement allowed Wiccan inmates a "Feast Day" of eight hours for Samhain. Gladson also requested that the time be made up at the next special holiday service. The ISP denied the grievance because religious grievances were considered "non-grievable"; thereafter, Gladson, as instructed, wrote, on two separate occasions, to IDOC's religious coordinator, Chaplain Kay Kopatich, with the same complaint and request. Kopatich denied both of Gladson's requests—one in 2003 and one in 2006—after investigating Gladson's grievances. In 2003, Chaplain Kopatich consulted with two Wiccan priestesses, one located in California and the other located in Des Moines, and inquired about the practice at other IDOC institutions. She testified that she attended a Samhain celebration at a community center in Des Moines and witnessed the entire event around October 2004. According to Chaplain Kopatich, the celebration lasted about three hours, perhaps a little longer. At the celebration, a priestess cleansed the area, cast a circle, and performed a ritual to honor ancestors. The participants danced, drummed, sang, and referenced the four directions. The ritual lasted just under two hours and refreshments were served afterwards.

After their grievances were denied, Gladson, Smith, and Howrey filed suit against numerous state prison officials for damages and injunctive relief for alleged restrictions on the practice of their Wiccan beliefs. The inmates subsequently dismissed all of their claims except those pertaining to (1) the length of time allowed for the celebration of the Wiccan Samhain holiday and (2) food for an associated feast. The complaint alleged that the ISP limited their observance of Samhain in violation of their rights under the Free Exercise Clause and RLUIPA.

The magistrate judge, sitting by consent of the parties, concluded that the inmates were sincere in their Wiccan beliefs, and neither party disputes this factual finding on appeal. In addition, the magistrate found that the Hood settlement agreement was silent regarding a "Feast Day" or any particular length of time for the Samhain observances. The agreement only stated that a special service would be allowed on Samhain. The magistrate judge found that, viewed in context, "the settlement agreement supports an inference [that] three hours is what the parties had in mind." The magistrate judge noted that prison records in evidence indicated that the first approved Samhain observance was on October 31, 2001, for three hours in the chapel. In 2002, 2003, and 2004, the ISP also set three hours of chapel time aside for the Wiccans to observe Samhain.

Based on these facts, the magistrate judge concluded that the settlement agreement implicitly approved three hours as sufficient to celebrate Samhain because that was the standard time then observed. The magistrate judge determined that his conclusion was bolstered by a letter that Michael Hood, a prior High Priest of the ISP coven and ISP Wiccan Class Plaintiff Representative in Hood, wrote to the Honorable Ronald E. Longstaff, the judge to whom the case was assigned, that the ISP had met its obligations under the settlement agreement and that "the Wicca class plaintiffs at the I.S.P. are satisfied...." Neither party disputes the magistrate judge's factual findings regarding the settlement agreement.

The magistrate judge then made factual findings about the Samhain holiday. Samhain is derived from the Celtic celebration of the new year at the end of October. It is the most important of the eight annual Wiccan holidays and serves several purposes. It commemorates harvest time and occurs at a time of the year—Halloween— when Wiccans believe that the separation between this world and the spirit world is most conducive to communication with the dead and to forecast the upcoming year. Wiccans celebrate the holiday with a ritual followed by a feast called the "Dumb Supper." According to the Witches' Bible, "Samhain was on the one hand a time of propitiation, divination and communication with the dead, and on the other, an uninhibited feast of eating, drinking and a defiant affirmation of life and fertility in the very face of the closing dark."

The Samhain celebration at the ISP contains four parts: set-up, ritual, feast, and clean-up. The set-up involves laying out a circle and constructing an altar. Among the Wiccan "communal items" that the Hood settlement agreement specifies to be kept in the prison chapel are a 30-inch diameter oak altar in three pieces, an altar paten (a wood pentagram), a serving plate, and an altar cloth. Taking the testimony of Hood and Gladson together, the magistrate judge concluded that the ritual consists of cleansing the area of energies from other groups, blessing the circle, cleansing or purifying the participants (a process that Gladson testified takes 10 to 15 minutes per person), passing salt, blessing water, and "calling liturgy and deities," with periods of meditation for "scrying" (the use of instruments such as a crystal ball or candle to communicate with the dead). After the inmates complete the ritual, they then have the Dumb Supper, which is a "lusty and wholehearted feast." At the feast, the inmates eat, socialize, play games, and continue scrying. The food items are supposed to be seasonal, focusing on harvest time. The inmates are required to clean-up, put away their celebratory items, and leave the chapel area by the end of the three-hour period.

According to Hood, the three-hour time limit caused the ritual to be rushed, and he had to omit some things, leaving little time for him to participate in the feast. Gladson also testified that three hours is not sufficient time to complete the full ritual and feast. The magistrate judge found Hood's and Gladson's testimony concerning the Samhain observances "for the most part conclusory." While Hood and Gladson identified various components of the ritual, the magistrate judge found that they failed to offer an adequate description from which he could infer the reasonable length of time involved. Gladson testified that the purification of each participant took up to 15 minutes, and Hood testified that each participant might take 15 to 20 minutes scrying, but the magistrate judge was "reluctant to take this testimony at face value." The judge noted Hood's testimony about the constraints resulting from the allotted time contradicted the settlement agreement that he signed, which indicated that the ISP had adequately accommodated the Wiccan group's religious beliefs. The magistrate judge also found that setting up the small altar and altar items described in the Hood settlement would not take much time. Furthermore, the food for the meal arrives prepared and is ready immediately upon conclusion of the ritual. According to the magistrate judge, the banquet was not "elaborate" and clean-up of the "simple altar" and celebratory items should not take much time, especially in light of the few remaining members of the Wiccan group.³

With regard to the food for Samhain, the ISP originally permitted the Wiccan inmates to bring food for the feast from their...