Legal to Eat Thanksgiving Turkey United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit No. 08-2044

United States Court of Appeals
For the Seventh Circuit
No. 08-2044 B RIAN N ELSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. C ARL M ILLER,
Defendant-Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Illinois.
No. 03-C-254¡ªClifford J. Proud, Magistrate Judge.
A RGUED F EBRUARY 25, 2009¡ªD ECIDED JULY 1, 2009
Before F LAUM, W ILLIAMS, and T INDER, Circuit Judges. F LAUM, Circuit
Judge. Illinois prisoner BrianNelson sued Chaplain Carl Miller in his
official and individual capacitiesfor alleged violations of his rights
under the free exercise and establishment clauses of the First Amend
ment, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act
(¡°RLUIPA¡±), and the Illinois Religious Free dom Restoration Act
(¡°IRFRA¡±). Nelson requested declara tory and injunctive relief as
well as monetary damages.
Case: 08-2044
Document: 40
Filed: 07/01/2009
Pages: 45
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No. 08-2044
Magistrate Judge Clifford Proud entered partial summary judgment
infavor of defendant, and, after a bench trial on the remaining
issues,found against Nelson on all counts. Nelson appeals. For the
reasons explained below, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and
remand for further proceedings.
I. Background A. Factual History The relevant facts are undisputed by
the parties. Brian Nelson is a prisoner at Tamms Correctional Center,
a ¡°super max¡± prison located in Tamms, Illinois. Tamms Institutional
Directive 04-25-101,¡ì II(I)(1) provides that¡°[c]ommitted persons
shall be permitted to abstain from any foodsthe consumption of which
violates their required religious tenets.¡± Requests for a religious
diet must be in writing, give specific details as to the applicable
religious tenetsinvolved, and be confirmed by a faith representative.
The Directive states that ¡°[s]hould further review[of the dietary
request] be needed, the facility chaplain and the religious faith
repre sentative may interview the committed person.¡± When Nelson was
incarcerated in 1983, he formally designated himself a Catholic. In
the late 1990s, plaintiff took a greater interest in his faith. In
accordance with Nelson¡¯s understanding of Catholicism, there are
three methods of penance: giving alms, works of charity, and acts of
abstinence. Given his incarceration,plaintiff rea soned that the only
ways he could engage in penance
Case: 08-2044
Document: 40
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Pages: 45
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were prayer and abstaining from eating meat. Thus, upon arriving at
Tamms in 1998, plaintiff requesteda meatless diet on Fridays
throughout the year as an act of penance. Nelson subsequently began
studying the teachings of Cistercian monks 1 and other religious
orders who followed the teachings and example of St. Benedict. (St.
Benedict was the patron saint of plaintiff¡¯s childhood parish and
school.) Plaintiff¡¯s study of St. Benedict caused him to write to
Tamms Chaplain Carl Miller on April 23, 2001, requesting that, in
accordance with his Roman Catholicupbringing and beliefs, he be given
a diet free of ¡°flesh meat on Fridays¡± as an act of penance.
Plaintiff¡¯s letter indicated that Father Fortenberry, the Catholic
chaplain at Tamms, supported and encouraged such acts of penance. In
apparent recognition of prison dietary policies, plaintiff stated that
he would accept a ¡°vegetar ian/religious no meat diet for all
meals.¡± Tamms offers only the¡°regular¡± diet (which may or may not
contain meat at any given meal), a vegan diet (containing no animal or
animal by-products), and some medical diets. Due to securityconcerns
at Tamms, special diets are kept to a minimum to prevent the intro
duction of contraband, andto prevent an inmate¡¯s cell
Cistercian Monks, or the Religious of the Order of Cteaux, are a
Benedictine reform religious order. The order was established in 1098
for the purpose of restoring as far as possible the literal observance
ofthe Rule of St. Benedict. See The Catholic Encyclopedia,
Cistercians, available at http:// www.newadvent.org/cathen/03780c.htm.
Case: 08-2044
Document: 40
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Pages: 45
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No. 08-2044
location from being identified by tracing the delivery of a special
food tray. Bonnie Sullivan, the registered dietician responsible for
dietary services at Tamms, explained that in 2002, the regular diet
included chicken, turkey, fish and a limited amount of beef, as well
as animal by-products such as eggs and cheese.
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