Three Hours Long Enough for Prisoners’ Religious Observance

January 8, 2009

Author: Lynda Waddington

Source: The Iowa Independent

[iowaindependent.com/10388/three-hours-long-enough-for-prisoners-religious-observance]

Three Iowa inmates, convinced that they were not allowed enough time for proper religious ceremony, have lost their claim on appeal. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a decision released today, affirmed the 2006 ruling of U.S. Magistrate Judge Ross Walters that the prisoners were provided adequate time for their religious ritual.

Lawrence Gladson, Darrell Smith and Scott Howrey were incarcerated at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison when they claimed their right to religious assembly had been violated. The three inmates, all practitioners of the Wiccan religion, filed for injunctive relief and monetary damages, citing their rights under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 had been violated when prison officials limited their Samhain observance to three hours.