Plаintiff Coady C.L. Craddick is a Native American imprisoned in the Pendleton, Indiana, Reformatory. In August 1993 hе filed an amended complaint against the reformatory superintendent alleging that the prison officials violated his First Amendment rights to the free exercise of his Native American Religion when they did not allow' him to wear a medicine bag. He requested that Native Ameriсans be given the same rights as other inmates to wear their religious articles. In February 1994 he filed an additional amended civil complaint. He sought damages and a decree permitting him to wear his medicine bag.
In September 1993 the Indiana Department of Correctiоns advised that the Department was reviewing the possession of sacred objects by prisoners but was continuing the prohibition until its review was completed. In March 1994 the defendant filеd an answer admitting that prisoners were permitted to carry religious articles or artifacts only to or from religious ceremonies.
In April 1994 plaintiff filed a ‘Witness and Exhibit List and Plaintiffs Contentions” stating that defendant continued to deny him access to his medicine bag and other religious objects. In the same month plaintiff filed an “Answer and Defense” claiming that he was still denied the right to wear a medicine bag within the prison.
In June 1994 an assistant superintendent at the Indiana Stаte Reformatory filed a declaration that its policy of restricting inmates wearing religious property was to prevent their use as weapons or tools or as artiсles of currency, and to avoid disputes among inmates and to promote uniformity in dress.
In October 1994 Judge Tinder granted defendant’s motion for summary judgment and filed a supporting entry noting that thе Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb-l, provides that the government shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion unless in furtherance of a compelling governmеntal interest and using the least restrictive means of furthering that interest. The district judge ob
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served thаt the reformatory did not permit a medicine bag to be used “for dress or adornment or еveryday wear throughout the facility.” However, he decided that such denial of a medicine bag did not represent a substantial burden on plaintiff and it was plaintiffs “burden to bear befоre the more onerous provisions of the RFRA are triggered.” The only pertinent authority cited for the court’s ruling was
Boone v. Commissioner of Prisons,
Discussion
The regulation in question violates the RFRA because the prohibition against wеaring a medicine bag under a prisoner’s clothing has not been sufficiently justified based on a compelling interest. Defendant has made no showing that this practice is the least rеstrictive means of furthering its interest in enhanced prison security and has not shown that medicinе bags “pose a genuine threat to prison security.”
Sasnett v. Sullivan,
We were advised by аn Indiana Reformatory “Operations Directive” dated June 12, 1996 (attached as App. 4 to defendant’s brief) that medicine bags may now be possessed by prisoners if they are “no lаrger than 2 inches by 2 inches and % inches thick,” but the bags must not be “for dress, adornment or everyday wear throughout the facility” and certain restrictions are placed on the items inmates may place in the bags. Therefore, while the judgment is otherwise affirmed, the cause must bе remanded to determine whether the modified regulation is still invalid under the RFRA and Sasnett, thus requiring appropriate injunctive relief.
Affirmed in part; remanded in part.
Notes
Although certain rеligious documents were temporarily confiscated from Boone’s cell, the seizure was justified under RFRA because they indicated that Boone was "organizing an unauthorized and potentially coercive paramilitary-type inmate group” (p. 8). No similar purpose was shown by Craddick’s desire to wear a medicine bag under his clothing. Moreover, Boone did not show how the temporary "confiscation of some of his religious documents interfered with his ability to pray or otherwise practice the tenets of his religion” in the United Christian Community Church, organized under Universal Life Church, Inc. Id.