Injunction – Prisoners Rights

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Gilbert Knowles v. Randy Pfister

Case No.: 15-1703

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and POSNER and FLAUM, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Injunction – Prisoners Rights

Appellant prisoner demonstrated entitlement to imposition of preliminary injunction allowing him to wear religious medallion.

“RLUIPA states that “no government shall impose a substantial burden on the religious exercise of a person residing in or confined to an institution … even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, unless the government demonstrates that imposition of the burden on that person— (1) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc–1(a). The “unless” clause doesn’t seem applicable to the plaintiff in this case, who is willing to wear his medallion under his shirt whenever he’s outside his cell to protect himself from being identified as a gang member. Cf. Schlemm v. Wall, 784 F.3d 362, 366 (7th Cir. 2015). And while the warden contends that other inmates might see the medallion while the plaintiff is showering, nothing in the record supports this contention; there isn’t even evidence that the plaintiff ever wears his medallion in the shower, or that the wearing of a pentacle medallion, whether openly or under one’s shirt, by any prisoner at Pontiac has ever caused a problem.”

Reversed and Remanded

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.