Tisdale v. Dobbs

• Decision Date: 19 December 1986
• Docket Number: No. 85-2352,85-2352
• Citation: 807 F.2d 734
• Parties: Adrian Bruce TISDALE, Appellant, v. Ronald DOBBS, Warden; Dewie Williams, Administrator Chaplaincy Services; Lieutenant Davis, Tucker Unit; and A.L. Lockhart, Director, Arkansas Department of Correction, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 734

807 F.2d 734

Adrian Bruce TISDALE, Appellant, v. Ronald DOBBS, Warden; Dewie Williams, Administrator

Chaplaincy Services; Lieutenant Davis, Tucker

Unit; and A.L. Lockhart, Director,

Arkansas Department of

Correction, Appellees.

No. 85-2352.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted May 14, 1986.

Decided Dec. 19, 1986.

Greg Jones, Little Rock, Ark., for appellant.

Sandra Johnson-Buchanan, Asst. Atty. Gen., Little Rock, Ark., for appellees.

Before HEANEY, JOHN R. GIBSON and MAGILL, Circuit Judges.

JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge.

Adrian Bruce Tisdale appeals from the district court's ¹ entry of summary judgment against him on his claim that officials of the Arkansas Department of Correction denied him and other Muslim inmates the right to free exercise of their religion by refusing to allow them to conduct religious services except under the leadership of an approved free-world sponsor and by providing Muslim inmates an inadequate sack lunch following the daily Ramadan fast. The district court found that these regulations were applied equally to all inmates, and held that they were not discriminatory and were a reasonable response to legitimate security considerations. It concluded that the regulations did not violate Tisdale's constitutional rights. On appeal, Tisdale argues that the district court erred in failing to determine whether the group worship regulation was more restrictive than necessary, in relying on conclusory affidavits submitted by the prison officials, and in failing to determine whether the challenged regulations had an impermissible discriminatory impact on Muslims and interfered with their observance of Ramadan. We affirm.

Tisdale, an inmate at the diagnostic unit of the Arkansas Department of Correction, filed this action pro se to enjoin certain prison officials from violating his constitutional right to free exercise of religion. Tisdale is a Muslim. He challenged the establishment and application of a regulation that prohibits groups of inmates from holding religious services unless a free-world sponsor is present and in charge. The officials were unable to obtain a Muslim to act as free-world sponsor and enforcement of the regulation foreclosed the Muslims from holding group prayer meetings, including their weekly Jumah prayer meetings. He also alleged harassment, retaliation, and discrimination arising from the prison's policy of providing Muslims who were forced to miss regularly scheduled meals during the fast of Ramadan with sack lunches consisting of two bologna sandwiches after fourteen hours of fasting.

The officials of the Department of Correction moved for summary judgment and submitted supporting affidavits. A.L. Lockhart, Director of the Arkansas Department of Correction, stated in his affidavit that the requirement of the presence of a free-world sponsor at all worship services applied to all religious groups and was not intended to discriminate against Muslims. He further stated that "[t]he importance of the enforcement of this rule was underscored in July of 1984 when Muslim services at Cummins were used as a forum for advocating institutional mutiny." Designated Record at 11. On that occasion, the Arkansas state police had to assist in maintaining security. Dewie Williams, Administrator of Chaplaincy Services, stated that Muslims would be allowed to assemble for group services if they did so at proper times and with an approved free-world person present and in charge of the meeting. He stated the Department had made efforts to get an American Muslim mission to have someone present for the Jumah meetings, but had been unsuccessful. Warden Ronald Dobbs stated that worship services were permitted on scheduled dates and times and with an approved free-world person present and in charge. This requirement, he stated, is not intended to discriminate against any religious group and is based on security considerations. He also stated that those inmates participating in Ramadan, which entails fasting during daylight hours, are given the same sack lunches as any other inmate who is unable to go to the cafeteria at the regularly scheduled times.

In answer to the motion and affidavits, Tisdale filed a sworn response stating that the officials were trying to justify oppression, harassment, and denial of Islamic religious worship in alleging that the Muslim meetings were a security risk. He stated that the Department and the Chaplaincy Service were "sorting out" the Muslim inmates, and were biased against Muslims because of the "conflict" between Christianity and the Muslim faith. Tisdale also stated that Muslim inmates observing Ramadan were given two bologna sandwiches nightly to break their fast and that this was a departure from the Department's former policy of providing food "from a food cart." He alleged that this diet was nutritionally insufficient and that some Muslims were vegetarians and could not eat the sandwiches.

The district court granted the motion for summary judgment. Tisdale v. Dobbs, PB-C-85-343 (E.D.Ark. Oct. 25, 1985). It found that the requirement that a free-world person be present at all religious group services applied to all groups and was not discriminatory. It further found that it was "a reasonable response to a legitimate security consideration in light of prior abuses of the assembly privilege." Id. at 2. It observed that the Department of Correction had made efforts to provide a sponsor for the Jumah meetings, and it noted that the regulation did not affect any aspects of the Muslim faith other than the Jumah meetings. It concluded that the regulation did not violate Tisdale's constitutional rights. With regard to Tisdale's allegation that the sack lunches provided Muslims during Ramadan were inadequate, it found that this policy was also applied evenhandedly to all inmates who missed meals. It concluded that this complaint "[did] not rise to the level of constitutional significance." Id. at 3.

Tisdale filed a separate motion for appointment of counsel. It was denied. This court appointed counsel to assist Tisdale with his appeal.

We turn our attention first to Tisdale's claim that the district court abused its discretion in denying his motion for appointment of counsel. He argues, citing Sours v. Norris, 782 F.2d 106 (8th Cir.1986), that when a colorable claim of constitutional violation is presented, the trial court is under a mandatory duty to appoint counsel. We have recently clarified and re-stated the considerations which should inform the exercise of a trial court's discretion in granting or denying a motion to appoint counsel in a civil suit such as this one. See In re Lane, 801 F.2d 1040, 1042-1044 (8th Cir.1986) (factual complexity, ability of prisoner to investigate facts, existence of conflicting testimony, ability to present claims, and complexity of legal issues are all factors to be weighed by trial court); see also Johnson v. Williams, 788 F.2d 1319, 1322-23 (8th Cir.1986); Nelson v. Redfield Lithograph Printing, 728 F.2d 1003, 1005 (8th Cir.1984). Our cases hold that there is no mandatory duty to appoint counsel in a civil suit. E.g., Lane, at 1043. Tisdale, therefore, had no "right" to appointed counsel before the district court, and we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying his request for one. The factual allegations in this case are not complex, and were well set forth by Tisdale in his complaint. He also concedes that the legal issues are neither particularly novel nor complex. Opening Brief for Appellant at 12. Moreover, his contentions have been vigorously and ably presented to us by appointed counsel on appeal.

With respect to the requirement that a free-world sponsor be present at group religious services, we draw guidance from a number of our recent decisions. In Hill v. Blackwell, 774 F.2d 338 (8th Cir.1985), we set out in detail the legal analysis and considerations applicable to Tisdale's claim. In Hill, we considered a regulation preventing inmates at the Missouri State Penitentiary from growing beards. The wearing of facial hair, including beards and mustaches, is a practice of the Muslim religion. Id. at 339. We stated that the burden is on the prisoner to show that his belief is religious in nature and sincerely held. Id. at 342. He must also show that the challenged regulation infringes upon that belief. Id. at 342-43. On the other hand, the responsible prison officials need only show that the exercise of the religious practice "could create a potential threat to a legitimate penological objective." Id. at 343. If this showing is made, the trial court must defer to the prison officials' expertise in matters of prison administration, and "the prisoner's right must yield to the prison regulation." Id. If, however, the record contains substantial evidence that the officials' belief that the regulation is necessary is unreasonable, or that their response to the penological objective is exaggerated, the district court need no longer defer but rather must determine on the record whether the officials have shown that the regulation is justified. Id.; see also Gregory v. Auger, 768 F.2d 287, 290-91 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 601, 88 L.Ed.2d 580 (1985).

We also employed this two-part standard in Otey v. Best, 680 F.2d 1231 (8th Cir.1982), in which we considered the constitutionality of a regulation that prohibited prisoners in administrative segregation and prisoners subject to the death penalty from attending Jumah prayer meetings. We quoted approvingly a portion of the Third Circuit's opinion in St. Claire v. Cuyler, 634 F.2d 109 (3d Cir.1980), which explicitly placed on the prisoner the burden of proving by substantial evidence that the prison officials exaggerated their response to security considerations or that their belief is unreasonable. Otey, 680 F.2d at 1233 (quoting St. Claire, 634 F.2d at 114-15). This passage...