Garner v. Kennedy, et al., No. 11-40653 (5th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff, a Texas state prisoner of Muslim faith, filed a pro se complaint against TDCJ pursuant to the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), 42 U.S.C. 2000cc-5, and 42 U.S.C. 1983. Plaintiff claimed that TDCJ violated RLUIPA and his constitutional rights by prohibiting him from wearing a beard and from wearing a white head covering, known as a Kufi, to and from worship services. The district court granted declaratory and injunctive relief in favor of plaintiff to the extent that TDCJ's policy prohibited him from wearing a quarter-inch beard. TDCJ appealed. As a preliminary matter, the court held that the district court did not violate Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52(a)(1), which required that the district court find the facts specially and state its conclusions of law separately. On the merits, the court held that TDCJ had not satisfied its burden of showing that the no-beard policy was the least restrictive means of furthering the compelling interests of controlling costs and in security by promoting easy identification of inmates. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.
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