Kamal Patel v. Bureau of Prisons

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 4, 2008
Docket06-3819
StatusPublished

This text of Kamal Patel v. Bureau of Prisons (Kamal Patel v. Bureau of Prisons) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kamal Patel v. Bureau of Prisons, (8th Cir. 2008).

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT ________________

No. 06-3819 ________________

Kamal K. Patel, * * Appellant, * * v. * * United States Bureau of Prisons; * Linda Sanders, Warden, FCI- * Forrest City; Rebecca Lewis, * Appeal from the United States Chaplain, FCI-Forrest City; * District Court for the Rochelle Cecil, Assistant Food * Eastern District of Arkansas. Service Administrator, FCI- * Forrest City; Ringwood, First * Name Unknown; Chaplain * Collier, First Name Unknown; * Gregory Thompson, Associate * Warden, FCI, * * Appellees. *

________________

Submitted: October 18, 2007 Filed: February 4, 2008 ________________

Before LOKEN, Chief Judge, GRUENDER and BENTON, Circuit Judges. ________________

GRUENDER, Circuit Judge. Inmate Kamal K. Patel brought this lawsuit against the United States Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) and certain prison officials (“Bureau Defendants”) at the Federal Correctional Institution in Forrest City, Arkansas (“FCI-Forrest City”). He sought injunctive relief and monetary damages on the grounds that they violated his right to practice his religion by failing to provide him with appropriate meals in compliance with his religious beliefs. The district court1 granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment on all claims, and Patel appeals. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Patel, a Muslim, was a federal inmate at FCI-Forrest City.2 After his transfer to FCI-Forrest City in 2004, he repeatedly requested dietary accommodations so that he could maintain a particular type of Islamic diet.

“The Bureau provides inmates requesting a religious diet reasonable and equitable opportunity to observe their religious dietary practice within the constraints of budget limitations and the security and orderly running of the institution and the Bureau through a religious diet menu.” 28 C.F.R. § 548.20(a). In furtherance of this regulation, Program Statement 4700.04 states:

3. Hot Entree Availability. To the extent practicable, a hot entree shall be available to accommodate inmates’ religious dietary needs, e.g., Kosher and/or Halal products. Hot entrees shall be offered three times

1 The Honorable H. David Young, United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas, presiding by consent of the parties pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(c). 2 On August 1, 2006, the BOP transferred Patel to its facility in Butner, North Carolina. Patel is incarcerated there as of January 23, 2008. FCI-Forrest City, however, remains Patel’s “parent facility.”

-2- a week and shall be purchased precooked, heated in their sealed containers, and served hot. Cooking of any other food items is not permitted in the Common Fare program.

Program Statement 4700.04(3) (emphases omitted). The BOP consulted with various religious leaders, including Muslims, and researched the beliefs and practices of numerous faiths in extensive detail. As a result, the BOP developed a cost-effective plan designed to accommodate all of the estimated thirty-one religious groups represented in the prison system. The BOP offers two meal plans, the “main line” and the “Common Fare.” The main line contains a hot bar. Participants in the main line plan may choose a no-flesh/vegetarian option, where inmates self-select vegetarian items from the hot bar. The Common Fare meals are kosher meals. Common Fare participants may not select items from the hot bar, but they may supplement their diets by selecting items from the salad bar or by purchasing items from the commissary.

The BOP decided to serve kosher meals in the Common Fare plan after reviewing the dietary requirements of various religious faiths. It concluded that a kosher meal was the strictest diet and subsumed all other religious dietary needs.3 Local prisons may not make changes to the Common Fare plan; such changes must occur pursuant to the BOP’s direction, not at individual prisons. Program Statement 4700.04(2).

Patel converted to Islam while in prison and now believes that he must consume a halal (or “lawful”) diet, which prohibits the consumption of pork and other items deemed haram (or “unlawful”). Some forms of Islamic dietary restrictions are stricter

3 Pointing to the“Kosher and/or Halal” language in the Program Statement, the parties dispute whether kosher subsumes halal or whether the “and/or” may require both kosher and halal. In reality, the Program Statement introduces “Kosher and/or Halal” with the indicator “e.g.,” meaning that kosher meals, halal meals, or both are exemplary, but not the exclusive or mandatory, means by which the prison may accommodate dietary needs.

-3- than others. For instance, some schools of Muslim thought claim that the Qur’an permits the eating of kosher meat that is lawful to Jews, an interpretation of Sura 5:5 (“The food of those who have received the Scripture is lawful for you, and your food is lawful for them.”). Patel’s belief in a halal diet demands the strictest type of ceremonial and cleanliness requirements. His halal diet does not allow him to consume any meat unless the animal has been slaughtered during a prayer to Allah. Generally, vegetarian dishes are halal unless they have been otherwise contaminated, such as coming into contact with haram foods or being cooked or served in containers that have been in contact with haram foods without being properly cleaned. Such cross-contamination renders the halal foods haram.

Patel argues that none of the BOP’s meal options meets his religious requirements. First, he claims that the main line option contains no halal foods because the vegetarian items available on the main line, which would otherwise be halal, have been cross-contaminated by prisoners dropping bacon into the vegetarian items or using their hands to serve themselves. Additionally, Patel claims the pans containing vegetarian items are cross-contaminated from other food preparation and have not been cleaned properly. Second, Patel claims that the Common Fare option is also unsuitable because it usually contains kosher meat entrées (ten of the fourteen dinner meals in a two-week schedule), not halal meat entrées. Occasionally the Common Fare entrées are kosher vegetarian entrées (four of the fourteen meals in a two-week schedule), which are also halal vegetarian entrées.

Additionally, Patel has the option of purchasing halal entrées, which are readily available in the commissary. The Common Fare menu states, “Shelf stabilized meals from the Commissary may be used as a substitute for hot entrees.” The commissary sells food to inmates, and inmates who purchase food may substitute those entrées from the commissary for the kosher entrées they would otherwise receive. The prison’s commissary provides four halal vegetarian entrées that cost between two and three dollars each. The record shows that the commissary carries pasta with garden

-4- vegetables for $2.43, cheese tortellini for $2.70, Florentine lasagna for $2.70, and vegetable stew for $2.94. Patel claims, “[I]f I had to purchase those on a daily basis, I think the cost would be prohibitive.”

Patel’s administrative requests to the BOP focused on providing halal meat entrées as a substitute for kosher meat entrées.4 He did, however, also make administrative requests for any non-contaminated food options, either halal meat or halal vegetarian. He also asked that kosher meat entrées be replaced with halal vegetarian commissary meals at the BOP’s expense, which he would otherwise have to purchase.

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Bluebook (online)
Kamal Patel v. Bureau of Prisons, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kamal-patel-v-bureau-of-prisons-ca8-2008.