Salahuddin v. Coughlin
| Decision Date | 14 May 1993 |
| Docket Number | D,No. 922,922 |
| Citation | 993 F.2d 306 |
| Parties | Richard Akbar SALAHUDDIN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Thomas A. COUGHLIN, III; Robert Kuhlman; Ernest Edwards; Deputy Superintendent Mitchell; Deputy Superintendent McCrea and Lt. Lewis, Defendants-Appellees. ocket 92-2171. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Howard M. Erichson, New York City (Thomas J. Moloney, Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, of counsel), for plaintiff-appellant.
Edward J. Curtis, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., New York City (Robert Abrams, Atty. Gen. of the State of New York, Yolanda M. Pizarro, Asst. Atty. Gen., of counsel), for defendants-appellees.
Before: NEWMAN, MINER and McLAUGHLIN, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff-appellant Richard Akbar Salahuddin requested that Muslim congregate religious services be held at the Sullivan Correctional Facility ("Sullivan") during his confinement there in 1985. His requests were denied, and he commenced this action pro se to challenge the denials. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Leval, J.) granted summary judgment for the defendants-appellees and dismissed Salahuddin's complaint, finding that the New York State Department of Correctional Services ("Department") acted reasonably in denying Salahuddin's request for congregate religious services. For the reasons that follow, the judgment of the district court is reversed in part and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Salahuddin is Muslim. While in the custody of the Department prior to his transfer to Sullivan, he and other Muslim inmates participated in the weekly congregate religious observance known as Jumu'ah. Participation in Jumu'ah is the central observance of Islam. It is commanded by the Qur'an (the principal book of the Muslim religion), see Qur'an 62:9-10, must be held on Friday afternoon and must be performed congregationally rather than individually. Jumu'ah has been compared in importance "to the Saturday service of the Jewish faith and the Sunday service of the various Christian sects." See O'Lone v. Estate of Shabazz, 482 U.S. 342, 360, 107 S.Ct. 2400, 2410, 96 L.Ed.2d 282 (1987) (Brennan, J., dissenting).
Construction of Sullivan was not yet completed when the Department decided to open it to receive inmates in July of 1985. The decision was made as a consequence of overcrowding in the Department's other facilities. The Department designated certain employees at other facilities to select inmates for transfer to Sullivan from among those inmates who were in "keeplock," a form of disciplinary confinement. Salahuddin, who was at the Auburn Correctional Facility ("Auburn") and scheduled for release from keeplock on August 23, 1985, was selected for transfer. On August 7, 1985, the Department transferred Salahuddin to Sullivan.
While Salahuddin remained at Sullivan, neither he nor any other inmate was allowed to participate in weekly Jumu'ah services. His requests to establish these services were met with statements that no congregate religious services were permitted at Sullivan. Nor were Salahuddin and the other Muslims at Sullivan allowed to hold a congregate religious service to celebrate Eid-ul-Adha on August 26, 1985. According to the tenets of Islam, Eid-ul-Adha is an important Muslim festival. During the period Salahuddin was confined at Sullivan, defendant-appellee Thomas A. Coughlin, III was Commissioner of the Department, defendant-appellee Robert Kuhlman was Superintendent of Sullivan and defendant-appellee Ernest Edwards was Deputy Superintendent for Security at Sullivan.
After Salahuddin's arrival at Sullivan, a counselor determined that he should not have been transferred to Sullivan because his scheduled date of release from keeplock was so imminent. The Department therefore transferred Salahuddin out of Sullivan on August 30, 1985. On March 16, 1988, Salahuddin was released on parole.
Salahuddin filed a complaint pro se, initially asserting various claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, 1985(3), 1986, 1987 and 1988. 1 With respect to the section 1983 claims, he alleged that he had been deprived of recreation time and religious liberty and that the defendants had interfered with his correspondence. He requested injunctive, declaratory and monetary relief. 2 Salahuddin's complaint was served on Coughlin on April 18, 1989, on Edwards on April 20, 1989, on Kuhlman on May 5, 1989, and on McCrea and Mitchell on May 11, 1989.
Defendants Coughlin, Kuhlman and Edwards moved on June 13, 1989 for dismissal or summary judgment pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(5), 12(b)(6) and 56. In response to defendants' motion, Salahuddin requested a continuance and appointment of counsel in order to complete discovery.
The district court granted Salahuddin an extension of time but denied his application for appointment of counsel. Salahuddin served defendants with a document production request, interrogatories and deposition notices but had received no response to these requests by the time he was required to respond to defendants' summary judgment motion.
The district court, in a judgment entered February 25, 1992, granted defendants' motion and dismissed Salahuddin's suit. The district court rejected Salahuddin's claim that a denial of two days recreation time rose to the level of a constitutional violation. The district court also held that Salahuddin's claim that his constitutional rights were violated when he was required to use his legal name on outgoing correspondence was barred by the doctrine of res judicata. Salahuddin has abandoned the denial of recreation time claim and only mentioned the interference with correspondence claim in a footnote to his brief. 3
Finally, the district court briefly considered the free exercise claim. The court, after setting out the standard for a prisoner's free exercise claim, made a finding that the Department had acted reasonably and, on that finding alone, rejected Salahuddin's claim:
The Department acted reasonably in transferring keeplocked inmates to Sullivan before construction was complete to avoid overcrowding at other facilities, despite the temporary unavailability at Sullivan of programs and congregate religious services. Salahuddin's constitutional claim on this ground is denied.
Salahuddin appeals from the judgment of the district court.
To survive a motion for summary judgment, a nonmovant need only show that there is a genuine issue of material fact. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2509-10, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). All facts must be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, and the nonmoving party must be given the benefit of all reasonable inferences. Sulewski v. Federal Express Corp., 933 F.2d 180, 182 (2d Cir.1991). We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Id. Where, as here, a party moves for summary judgment on the ground that the nonmoving party bears the burden of proof and will be unable to prove an essential element of his case, Rule 56 allows summary judgment only "after adequate time for discovery." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).
It is well established that prisoners have a constitutional right to participate in congregate religious services. Young v. Coughlin, 866 F.2d 567, 570 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 492 U.S. 909, 109 S.Ct. 3224, 106 L.Ed.2d 573 (1989). Confinement in keeplock does not deprive prisoners of this right. Id. A prisoner's right to practice his religion is, however, not absolute. See Benjamin v. Coughlin, 905 F.2d 571, 574 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 951, 111 S.Ct. 372, 112 L.Ed.2d 335 (1990).
In O'Lone v. Estate of Shabazz, the Supreme Court held that prison regulations alleged to infringe prisoners' free exercise rights are to be judged by a "reasonableness" standard less restrictive than that ordinarily applied to alleged infringements of fundamental constitutional rights. 482 U.S. at 349, 107 S.Ct. at 2404-05. In evaluating the constitutionality of a restriction, four factors are considered:
1) whether there is a rational relationship between the regulation and the legitimate government interests asserted; 2) whether the inmates have alternative means to exercise the right; 3) the impact that accommodation of the right will have on the prison system; and 4) whether...
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