Written by Don Byrd
Via Raw Story, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals last week reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by an inmate who objected to religious content in an early release program. Randall Jackson, an atheist, claimed his First Amendment rights were violated when he was required to participate in a religious substance abuse treatment program as a condition of his early release on parole.
The District Court dismissed the case, but on appeal that ruling was overturned to allow the suit to continue.
From the opinion:
The state argues that participation in OUTP was optional and, as a result, not coerced. Assuming the truth of the facts pled in Jackson’s pro se complaint, however, he believed himself required to complete it based on a parole stipulation. The parties agree that even if Jackson had completed the substance abuse treatment program, he would not have been guaranteed early parole. . . . Jackson’s pro se complaint and attached documents do not reveal whether this is the only route to early parole or how many OUTP participants receive it. Jackson’s progress toward early parole did, however, stop when he left the substance abuse treatment program.
…While inmates have no constitutional right to early parole, Jackson does have the right to be free from unconstitutional burdens when availing himself of existing ways to access the benefit of early parole.
