Wright v. Fayram

• Decision Date: 18 June 2012
• Docket Number: No. C11-0001,C11-0001
• Parties: DUANE WRIGHT, Plaintiff, v. JOHN FAYRAM, WARDEN; TRACY DIETSCH, TREATMENT DIRECTOR; and REVEREND RICK JENKINS, CHAPLAIN, ANAMOSA STATE PENITENTIARY. Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Iowa

DUANE WRIGHT, Plaintiff,

v.JOHN FAYRAM, WARDEN; TRACY DIETSCH, TREATMENT DIRECTOR;and REVEREND RICK JENKINS, CHAPLAIN, ANAMOSA STATE PENITENTIARY. Defendants.

No. C11-0001

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF IOWA CEDAR RAPIDS DIVISION

Dated: June 18, 2012

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

III. FACTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

A. The Parties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

B. Nation of Gods and Earths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

C. Wright and the NGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

D. Prison's Accommodations and Objections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

IV. DISCUSSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

A. Article III Standing - Ripeness Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

B. Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

C. Color of State Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

D. Sincerely Held Religious Beliefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

E. Substantial Burden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

F. Legitimate Penological Objective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

1. Is There a "Valid Rational Connection" Between the Restriction on Group Worship and the Prison's Legitimate Interests? . . . . . . . . . . . 242. Are There Other Ways for Wright to Exercise His Religion Despite the Restriction? . . . . . . . 26

3. What Impact Would Group Study Have on Others and on Prison Resources? . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

4. Are There Alternative Ways to Achieve the Prison's Interests? . . . . . . . . . . .28

V. SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

VI. RECOMMENDATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

I. INTRODUCTION

This is a prisoner civil rights case under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff-prisoner Duane Wright claims the defendants - employees at the Anamosa State Penitentiary - have violated his First Amendment rights by refusing to officially recognize and accommodate his religious beliefs, and by improperly classifying his religious affiliation as a security threat group. While issues arise regarding the chaplain's role as a state actor and exhaustion of the prison's religious grievance procedures, the principal fighting issues in this case revolve around two questions: (1) whether Defendants' actions improperly infringe on Wright's sincerely held religious beliefs, and (2) whether Wright's request for group worship is not ripe because he is the prison's sole practitioner of his religion.

I recommend the court hold that the Nation of Gods and Earths is a religion for § 1983 purposes, entitled to protection under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution. However, because Wright failed to show the existence of any other Nation of Gods and Earths adherents at the prison, I believe his group worship claims are too speculative to merit Article III standing. Therefore, I recommend that Wright's claims against the prison employees be dismissed.

II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On January 3, 2011, Plaintiff Duane Wright filed an application to proceed in forma pauperis, attaching a prisoner's complaint under 42 U.S.C.§ 1983 asking that the prison be ordered to recognize his beliefs and accommodate his request to hold Sunday meetings in the prison chapel. On January 7, 2011, the district court conducted an initial review of the case and permitted the matter to proceed. The Defendants filed an answer on March 31, 2011 admitting some facts alleged by Wright, and denying others. Defendants admit that Wright "has been denied chapel or congregational services on Sundays," but assert that his religious beliefs have been accommodated in other ways. Defendants claim further that Wright failed to exhaust his administrative remedies.

On August 5, 2011, Defendants filed a Motion for Summary Judgment. Defendants claim that the Nation of Gods and Earths ("NGE") is not a "religion" triggering First Amendment protection, but instead is properly considered a security threat group. Alternatively, Defendants argued that "even if the NGE is a religion sincerely held by Wright, the lack of resources outlined by defendants in the Dietsch affidavit demonstrates that the prohibition on congregate services and study groups at the ASP [Anamosa State Penitentiary] chapel is rationally related to legitimate governmental purpose under the Turner factors."¹ Upon finding material issues of fact in dispute, the district court denied the motion for summary judgment on January 10, 2012. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B), the district judge referred the case to the undersigned magistrate judge for a report and recommendation. An evidentiary hearing was held at the Anamosa State Penitentiary on February 22, 2012.

III. FACTS

A. The Parties

Plaintiff Duane Wright ("Wright") is a 51-year-old inmate at the Anamosa State Penitentiary ("the prison"). In 1984, Wright received a life sentence for a first-degree murder conviction, and served 22 years at the Iowa State Penitentiary at Fort Madison before transferring to the Anamosa State Penitentiary in 2006. He is suing prison employees John Fayram, Tracy Dietsch, and Reverend Rick Jenkins in their capacities as warden, treatment director, and chaplain, respectively. Wright claims Defendants, acting in their official capacities on behalf of the prison, violated his constitutional rights by refusing to recognize and allow him to fully practice and observe his religion, the Nation of Gods and Earths.

B. Nation of Gods and Earths

The Court's information regarding the Nation of Gods and Earths ("NGE") comes from the following sources: an online article submitted by Wright as Exhibit A, a "Brief Syllabus of the Nation of Gods and Earths Teaching" prepared by NGE's National Office of Cultural Affairs and introduced by Wright as Exhibit B, Wright's "Request for New Religion, Religious Group or Religious Assistance" identified as Defendants' Exhibit 1, and the testimony of the witnesses at the hearing.² NGE was founded by Clarence 13X, an associate of Malcolm X, in New York City in the 1960s. Clarence taught Nation of Islam lessons to his followers, "but instead of teaching them to be Muslims, he taught them that they were God the same way he was."³ The name "Nation of Gods and Earths" is derived from the belief that male members of the group are "Gods," while females are called "Earths." Wright explained that women are "symbolic of the earth because the earth nourishes and gives life." According to Wright, NGE adherents study the Bible, theKoran, and the Torah, but believe that "God is in every being and we control the physical earth." According to Wright "we do not believe in no mystery god (unseen)."⁴

The online article submitted by Wright as an exhibit describes NGE as "more of a cultural practice than a religious one."

The NGE, then, is more of a cultural practice than a religious one and, in fact, the group does not call itself a religion at all. Its position is that it makes no sense to be religious or to worship or deify anyone or anything outside of oneself when adherents themselves are the highest power in the known universe, or Supreme Being, both collectively and individually.

Plaintiff's Exhibit A at 3 of 9. (It should be noted, however, that the quoted section is followed by the notation "[dubious - discuss].") According to Wright, "we don't believe in the word religion."

Similarly, the "Brief Syllabus" prepared by NGE's National Office of Cultural Affairs states that "[w] are ea God Centered Culture; we choose a Cultural path to God rather than your religious one."⁵ The syllabus refers to God in the singular and states that NGE "never needed religion because God came to us in the flesh and person of our Father Almighty God Allah."⁶ While it is not entirely clear to the Court, this is apparently a reference to Clarence 13X. According to the online article, after surviving a shooting, Clarence 13X assumed the name Allah and, according to some, boasted that he was immortal.⁷

Wright's request for recognition of his religious beliefs, filed with the Iowa Department of Corrections, summarized the basic tenets of the NGE:

The Nation of Gods and Earths, see the Blackman, and Human as God, we do not believe in no mystery god (unseen). We do not believe in religion, we believe our culture is or is [sic] a way of life. We believe that God comes in the form of Man. We believe in Jesus as our Brother just as other Prophets.

Defendants' Exhibit 1 at 1. Wright further detailed NGE's beliefs at the evidentiary hearing, explaining that man has the attributes of the "supreme being" because man controls the physical earth and has the "highest form of intelligence." To be more god-like, therefore, the NGE pursues the highest form of intelligence in its rituals. According to the syllabus prepared by NGE's Office of Cultural Affairs, NGE adherents seek self-knowledge - knowledge acquired through concepts and lessons on, among others, the Supreme Alphabet and the Supreme Mathematics.⁸ According to the syllabus, "Jews speak Hebrew, Gods and Earths speak Mathematics."⁹ Other traditional...