State told to let 'non-Muslim' prisoners observe Ramadan

Two Iowa prisoners have won the right to participate in Muslim customs even though the state says they are not Muslims.

Inmates Michael Williams-El and James Blair-Bey — both serving life sentences for first-degree murder — are members of the Moorish Science Temple of America and identify their faith as "Moorish Islam."

Their names as identified in prison records are Michael Terry Williams, 40, and James Lee Blair, 55.

Moorish Islam, inspired by the teachings of the Quran, was founded in the 1920s by Timothy Drew. It has been criticized by some as being associated with terrorists, statements the group has denied.

Williams-El and Blair-Bey were denied the right to engage in all the activities associated with Ramadan by state prison officials after Imam Taha Tawil — director of the Mother Mosque of America — in 2012 determined that the group has beliefs that are contrary to those of Islam.

That decision meant that the prisoners were not provided food after sunset or authorized to meet at night in the penitentiary chapel. That is customary for other prisoners who are Muslim.

Blair-Bey also said that the prison must provide him with a substitute for beans in his vegetarian diet because legumes give him flatulence, which he said runs contradictory to his Moorish faith. "If one has any type of discharge from your bodily functions . . . it invalidates the performance of Wudu . . . which is ablution, a ritual that you perform to clean yourself prior to prayer," court records quote him as saying.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Shields rejected the beans portion of the lawsuit. He also rejected Blair-Bey's contention that he should be allowed access to specific types of scented oils not approved by the state, which state officials said would jeopardize safety.

But Shields ruled in favor of the inmates' request that they be allowed to participate in the typical customs provided to other Muslim prisoners. Shields based his decision largely on the prisoners' longtime record of practicing the religion. The state's denial violated the prisoners' rights to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, he ruled.

"The penitentiary may not merely rely on the religious opinion of Imam Tawil as grounds to administratively treat plaintiffs differently when there is no rational relation to any legitimate penal interest for the differential treatment," Shield ruled in August.

The three-member Iowa Appeal Board is scheduled Tuesday to vote to use $2,000 of state money to pay for the prisoners' attorney costs in the case.

"The state essentially used a religious litmus test to determine who could participate and who couldn't," Rockne Cole, an attorney from Iowa City who represented the prisoners said. " … We think it was not a drastic departure from precedent but a certain recognition of the core religious freedom that we've had since the founding of the Republic."

This is the second ruling in less than a year in which Iowa officials were ordered to provide food accommodations to satisfy prisoners' religious faiths after initially denying them based on information or advice from Imam Tawil.

Last year Iowa was ordered to serve inmate Mahendrakumar Patel food served in pots and pans that had not previously touched meats as part of his Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan religion.

Iowa taxpayers picked up Patel's $12,000 in legal expenses as part of the settlement in that case.

It was unclear Monday whether the state would change its practice of taking advice from Imam Tawil in determining whether or not some religious practices are legitimate.

"The incentive for offenders to request a preferred diet for religious purposes is always present," Fred Scaletta, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Corrections said in a statement to The Des Moines Register. "The critical factor is to provide the offenders a diet consistent with the requirement of their faiths, consistent with the institutional resources and constitutional requirements.

The department refused to allow Williams-El and Blair-Bey to speak with the Register, saying since there are pending proceedings in the case, interviews cannot be granted.

Talk about it

The Iowa Appeal Board will vote Tuesday whether to pay for the attorney costs during a public meeting that begins at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Iowa Department of Management's Conference Room No. 14 in the basement of the Iowa Capitol.