Malik v. Brown, 91-36320

• Decision Date: 07 February 1994
• Docket Number: No. 91-36320,91-36320
• Citation: 16 F.3d 330
• Parties: Dawud Halisi MALIK, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Neal BROWN, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 330

16 F.3d 330

Dawud Halisi MALIK, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Neal BROWN, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 91-36320.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted Aug. 6, 1993.

Decided Feb. 7, 1994.

Mary Megan McLemore, Preston, Thorgrimson, Shidler, Gates & Ellis, Seattle, Washington, for the plaintiff-appellant.

Pat L. DeMarco, Assistant Attorney General, Olympia, Washington, for the defendant-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington.

Before: BEEZER, HALL, Circuit Judges, and CONTI, ^* District Judge.

OPINION

BEEZER, Circuit Judge:

Dawud Halisi Malik brought suit under 42 U.S.C. Secs. 1983 and 1985, alleging that prison officials violated his statutory and constitutional rights by refusing to process mail and documents in which the plaintiff used his religious name. Plaintiff claims he was subjected to disciplinary action for using his religious name in addition to his committed name. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of defendant prison officials, and Malik appeals. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1291. We reverse and remand.

I

Malik was committed to the Washington State Department of Corrections under the name David Washington Riggins. He converted to the Sunni Muslim faith in 1978 and legally changed his name to Dawud Halisi Malik. ¹ For the next ten years, however, Malik continued to use the name Riggins.

Malik began using his religious name in 1988. He testified that "when I started truly practicing the religion as it's to be practiced, that's when I started using my name to live up to the attributes of my name.... Dawud means David, and to me it means the [Prophet] David.... Halisi means genuine, sincere, and for real. Malik means king and a believer." In 1990, Malik gave officials at Clallam Bay Corrections Center a copy of the court order changing his name from Riggins to Malik. Prison officials informed Malik that he would not be allowed to either send or receive mail unless he used his committed name. The policy in effect at the time provided:

Letters may be typewritten, printed, or legibly written in longhand and must be concluded with the inmate's full signature and address at the end of each letter. Name, number and address must appear in the upper left hand corner of the envelope.

Field Policy No. 400-7, p F. By memorandum dated July 23, 1990, Malik was informed that the Field Policy required him to use his committed name on all correspondence.

On July 23, 1990, Malik attempted to have several letters mailed. The letters were returned to Malik later that day. He alleges these letters contained both his committed and religious names in the upper left hand corner. Prison officials assert that the letters were returned because they included only his religious name. ²

Malik eventually received a "general infraction" stating that he had "refused to comply with directives concerning the U.S. Mail." He was punished with six days cell confinement and eight hours of extra duty. Malik's appeal of the infraction was denied. Subsequently, Malik received an additional general infraction stating that Malik "is not to use his Islamic name [sic] only his legal name on outgoing mail, etc." He was sanctioned with ten days cell confinement.

Malik then filed a pro se complaint seeking declaratory judgment, injunctive relief, and monetary damages. After Malik filed his suit, Superintendent Neal Brown issued Administrative Bulletin CBCC 90-089, which amends CBCC 450.100 p F ³ as follows:

Letters may be typewritten, printed or legibly written and must be concluded with the inmate's full signature and address at the end of each letter. The inmate's committed name, number and address must appear in the upper left hand corner of the envelope.

The names under which inmates were committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections must be used on all incoming and outgoing mail. Inmates may use another name, but only in addition to their committed name.

Brown explained that the change clarified an "ambiguity" in the policy, and conceded that the original policy could be construed to permit use of a name other than the inmate's committed name.

The district court adopted the Report and Recommendation of the Magistrate Judge and dismissed the action. The Report and Recommendation concluded, first, that there was no evidence that Malik's use of his religious name stemmed from "sincere religious belief." Second, the Report and Recommendation concluded that the prison's requirement that an inmate use his committed name was reasonable.

II

We review de novo the district court's grant of summary judgment. Kruso v. International Tel. & Tel., 872 F.2d 1416, 1421 (9th Cir.1989), cert. denied, 496 U.S. 937, 110 S.Ct. 3217, 110 L.Ed.2d 664 (1990).

The Report and Recommendation adopted by the district court concluded that Malik's use of his Islamic name was a "personal choice," rather than a matter of religious belief. This conclusion was based on Malik's failure to use his religious name for ten years after he converted to Islam and changed his name legally. A "use it or lose it" approach to religious exercise does not square with the Constitution.

"Prison walls do not form a barrier separating prison inmates from the protections of the Constitution." Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 84, 107 S.Ct. 2254, 2259, 96 L.Ed.2d 64 (1987). Among the rights prisoners possess is the right to the free exercise of religion, subject to limitations justified by the considerations underlying our penal system. O'Lone v. Estate of Shabazz, 482 U.S. 342, 348, 107 S.Ct. 2400, 2404, 96 L.Ed.2d 282 (1987).

To merit protection under the free exercise clause of the First Amendment, a religious claim must satisfy two criteria. "First, the claimant's proffered belief must be sincerely held; the First Amendment does not extend to 'so-called religions which ... are obviously shams and absurdities and whose members are patently devoid of religious sincerity.' " Callahan v. Woods, 658 F.2d 679, 683 (9th Cir.1981) (quoting Theriault v. Carlson, 495 F.2d 390, 395 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 1003, 95 S.Ct. 323, 42 L.Ed.2d 279 (1974)). Second, "the claim must be rooted in religious belief, not in 'purely secular' philosophical concerns." Id. (citing Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 215-16, 92 S.Ct. 1526, 1533, 32 L.Ed.2d 15 (1972)); Johnson v. Moore, 948 F.2d 517, 520 (9th Cir.1991) (claims must be religious in nature). Determining whether a claim is "rooted in religious belief" requires analyzing whether the plaintiff's claim is related to his sincerely held religious belief. Callahan, 658 F.2d at 683-84.

There is nothing in the record before us which challenges the sincerity of Malik's Muslim faith. The only evidence in the record on the issue is Malik's testimony concerning when and why he began using his Muslim name. Nor does Brown dispute that Malik's name change was related to his conversion to Islam. We agree with other circuits that the adoption of Muslim names by converts to the Islamic faith is an exercise of religious freedom. See, e.g., Salaam v. Lockhart, 905 F.2d 1168, 1170 n. 4 (8th Cir.1990) ("It is common practice for a [Muslim] convert to change his name as the Koran provides, and the former Anglo name is thought to be a badge of a spiritually unenlightened state and a relic of slavery."), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 1026, 111 S.Ct. 677, 112 L.Ed.2d 669 (1991); Ali v. Dixon, 912 F.2d 86, 90 (4th Cir.1990) ("the first amendment protects an inmate's right to legal recognition of an adopted religious name" (citation omitted)); Felix v. Rolan, 833 F.2d 517, 518 (5th Cir.1987) ("The adoption of Muslim names by inmates practicing that religion is generally recognized to be an exercise of both first amendment speech and religious freedom.").

Instead of determining whether Malik's claim was related to his sincere religious beliefs, the district court determined that Malik's use of his Islamic name was a "personal choice" because he had not felt compelled to use the name at the time of his conversion. The Supreme Court has indicated, however, that religious claims that have developed over time are protected to the same extent as those that occur in a moment. Hobbie v. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n of Florida, 480 U.S. 136, 144 n. 9, 107 S.Ct. 1046, 1050 n. 9, 94 L.Ed.2d 190 (1987) ("So long as one's faith is religiously based at the time it is asserted, it should not matter, for constitutional purposes, whether that faith derived from revelation, study, up-bringing, gradual evolution, or some source that appears entirely incomprehensible."); Ehlert v. United States, 402 U.S. 99, 103, 91 S.Ct. 1319, 1323, 28 L.Ed.2d 625 (1970) (conscientious objector claims not defeated merely because they were "late in crystallizing").

Brown does not suggest, nor did the district court find, a secular reason for Malik's decision to change his name. Malik's name change is indisputably related to his conversion to Islam. The ten-year gap between when Malik legally changed his name and when he began to use it exclusively does not attenuate Malik's free exercise claim. We hold that Malik has stated a valid free exercise claim.

III

The Report and Recommendation adopted by the district court further found that Malik's suit failed as a matter of law. We view the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, and must decide whether there are any genuine issues of material fact and whether the district court correctly applied the relevant substantive law. Tzung v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Co., 873 F.2d 1338, 1339-40 (9th Cir.1989).

A

We first consider whether the prison regulations impinged on Malik's right to exercise his religious faith. "[W]hen a prison regulation impinges on inmates' constitutional rights, the regulation is valid if it reasonably related to legitimate penological interests." Shabazz, 482 U.S. at 349, 107...