Weaver v. Jago, 80-3524

• Decision Date: 09 April 1982
• Docket Number: No. 80-3524,80-3524
• Parties: Dennis L. WEAVER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Arnold R. JAGO; Terry Morris; Paul Blair; Sergeant (John Doe) Thompson; (John Doe) Parker; George F. Denton; Randy Halcolm; Larry Caudill; James Colgrove; Raymond Shaner; H. Bates; Ronald Marshal; and L. Rupp, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 116

675 F.2d 116

Dennis L. WEAVER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Arnold R. JAGO; Terry Morris; Paul Blair; Sergeant (John

Doe) Thompson; (John Doe) Parker; George F. Denton; Randy

Halcolm; Larry Caudill; James Colgrove; Raymond Shaner; H.

Bates; Ronald Marshal; and L. Rupp, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 80-3524.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Submitted on Briefs March 18, 1982.

Decided April 9, 1982.

Dennis L. Weaver, pro se.

William J. Brown, Atty. Gen. of Ohio, J. Anthony Logan, Asst. Atty. Gen., Columbus, Ohio, for defendants-appellees.

Before LIVELY and MERRITT, Circuit Judges and PECK, Senior Circuit Judge.

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal from a district court order granting summary judgment to the State Defendants in a civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff-appellant Dennis L. Weaver is a prisoner in the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility at Lucasville, Ohio. His pro se complaint alleged that the defendants had violated his freedom of religion, his right to govern his personal appearance and his right to the free expression of his African heritage. He further alleged deprivation of personal property and of educational and other privileges.

The State Defendants moved to dismiss Weaver's complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted and for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. In the alternative, the defendants moved for summary judgment under Fed.R.Civ.Pro. 56. This motion was supported by an affidavit of the former deputy superintendent of custody at Lucasville.

The district court reviewed the Supreme Court decision in Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979), and quoted at length passages from that decision which indicate that federal courts must give great deference to prison administrators in matters essential to the maintenance of prison security, discipline, and operation. The district court concluded, without analysis, that Weaver's complaint clearly sought to have the court substitute its judgment for that of the prison administration in matters that "bear little, if any, relationship to Constitutional deprivation."

To the extent that Weaver's complaint challenged prison procedures and practices regarding personal possessions and physical accommodations, or challenged deprivations of visitation, educational and other privileges, we agree with the conclusion of the district court. These allegations appear to be precisely the sort of "judgment calls" regarding prison management that Bell v. Wolfish requires be left to the expertise of prison administrators. 441 U.S. at 562, 99 S.Ct. at 1886.

To the extent that Weaver's complaint alleged interference with his right to the free exercise of his religious beliefs, we disagree with the conclusion of the district court that Weaver sought only to involve the court in matters bearing little relationship to constitutional deprivation. Weaver asserted that he was subjected to a number of disciplinary actions for failure to have his hair cut in conformity with prison regulations. He further alleged that he is part Cherokee Indian, and that he subscribes to a Cherokee religious belief that he is made in the image of the "Great Spirit", and that according to this belief the cutting of his hair would "indicate disgrace, humiliation, or death in his family."

Though Bell v. Wolfish admonishes federal courts not to assume the functions of prison officials, it also recognizes and affirms the established principle that constitutional protections do not stop at the prison gates. 441 U.S. at 545, 99 S.Ct. at 1877. The Court noted that the constitutional rights of prisoners are to be "scrupulously observed", id. at 562, 99 S.Ct. at 1886, while reaching a "mutual accommodation between institutional needs and objectives and the provisions of the Constitution that are of general application." Id. at 546, 99 S.Ct. at 1877, quoting Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 556, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 2974, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974).

There can be little doubt that Weaver's complaint asserts a claim that his first amendment right to freedom of religious expression was violated. As the Supreme Court has stated,

resolution of (what is a religious belief, or practice) ... is not to turn upon a judicial perception of the particular belief or practice in question; religious beliefs need not be acceptable, logical, consistent, or comprehensible to others in order to merit First Amendment protection.

Thomas v. Review Bd. of Indiana Employment Sec., 450 U.S. 707, 101 S.Ct. 1425, 1430, 67 L.Ed.2d 624 (1981). This Court has also noted that, "There is no requirement that a religion meet any organizational or doctrinal test in order to qualify for First Amendment protection." Sequoyah v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 620 F.2d 1159, 1163 (6th Cir. 1980) (a case that also notes that the Cherokees have a religion within the meaning of the Constitution).

In the present case Weaver has alleged that his religious beliefs counsel him not to cut his hair. Whether Weaver actually has such a belief and whether that belief is entitled to first amendment protection is a question that cannot be summarily dismissed as bearing little relationship to constitutional deprivation. "(I)f the belief asserted is 'philosophical and personal rather than religious,' or is 'merely a matter of personal preference,' and not 'one of deep religious conviction, shared by an organized group,' it...