Muslim Inmate Challenge to Common Area Prayer Ban Partly Revived

A Muslim man incarcerated in a private prison in Oklahoma convinced the Tenth Circuit on Friday to revive part of his religious discrimination lawsuit challenging prison officials’ decision to block him from praying in the prison’s communal day room.

Damea Shandale Tenison can move forward with claims under the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, because he presented sufficient evidence that he was treated less favorably than Christian inmates, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled. Tenison’s evidence showed that prison officials conducted Christian communion in the common area multiple times after forcing him to complete his daily ...