Emad v. Dodge County

Dist. Ct. erred in granting defendants-prison officials’ motion for summary judgment in plaintiff-prisoner’s section 1983 action, alleging that defendants violated his First and 14th Amendment rights, by allowing Christian prisoners to practice their religion in open areas of prison and in group settings, while they limited plaintiff and other Muslim prisoners to practice their religion in their individual cells. While Dist. Ct. found that defendants were entitled to qualified immunity, where plaintiff failed to identify relevant case law that would establish that such limitations on prayer within prison setting violated any Constitutional provision, Ct. of Appeals found that remand was required for parties to clarify record to determine what actions individual defendants took with respect to plaintiff’s claims. Moreover, case law would support plaintiff's claims of unequal treatment. As such, no qualified immunity finding could be made under this record. Moreover, defendants’ claim that security concerns necessitated instant prayer restrictions does not require different result, where said restriction must apply equally to all religious groups, and where plaintiff maintained that said restrictions were not applied equally.