On April 12, 2006, a group of Muslim and Christian prisoners in various Michigan correctional facilities filed a § 1983 lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against the Michigan Department of Corrections ("MDOC"). On January 27, 2010, the prisoners, then represented by both the ACLU and private counsel, filed a second amended complaint seeking class certification for all current and future similarly situated inmates.

The prisoners claimed that the MDOC violated § 3 of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 ("RLUIPA") 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc et seq.; the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants' actions restricted them from attending religious services because of mandatory prison activities such as work duty. Specifically, the Muslim prisoners sought the following relief: accommodation to attend a religiously-required service on Fridays that did not conflict with other mandatory prisoner activities, such as work assignments; reversal of any punishment by the MDOC against inmates who refused to attend prison assignments that required the prisoners to miss any provided Friday Islamic religious services; accommodation for Muslim prisoners to be provided a religiously-mandated halal diet; and finally, accommodation to observe two annual religious feasts. In addition, a Seventh-Day Adventist prisoner sought similar accommodations for observance of the Saturday holy day and reversals of similar disciplinary measures. The prisoners sought injunctive and declaratory relief remedying and enjoining the actions by the MDOC. The case was assigned to Judge Avern Cohn and Magistrate Judge David Grand.

On December 20, 2012, Judge Avern Cohn adopted Magistrate Judge Grand's report and recommendation and granted the prisoners' motion for class certification. The class was certified as “'all current and future Michigan Muslim inmates who desire but have been denied ... the ability to participate in Jum'ah because of a conflicting work, school or similar detail. With respect to the provision of a halal diet, plaintiffs seek to certify a class comprised of “all current and future Michigan Muslim inmates who desire but have been denied ... a halal diet that is free of contamination by foods considered haram,' i.e., non-halal meats and/or vegetarian foods that have been 'contaminated' by coming into contact with such meats." Dowdy-El v. Caruso, No. 06-11765, 2012 WL 6642763, at *1 (E.D. Mich. Dec. 20, 2012).

On May 24, 2013, Judge Cohn granted in part and denied in part both the prisoners' and the MDOC's motions for summary judgment. Judge Cohn dismissed the prisoners' Equal Protection claims relating to the prayer services and dietary accommodations. The court also dismissed the free exercise claims relating to prayer services. But the free exercise claims relating to a halal diet were allowed to proceed as were the RLUIPA claims relating to both prayer services and dietary accommodations. Judge Cohn granted summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs on all claims relating to the two annual religious feasts.

On September 10, 2013, the prisoners moved for approval of a proposed class settlement agreement regarding the remaining issues before the court (the free exercise and RLUIPA claims for a halal diet and RLUIPA claims regarding accommodation for prayer services). On September 17, 2013, Judge Cohn issued an order preliminarily approving the parties' proposed settlement agreement which introduced new MDOC policies designed to meet the prisoners' remaining concerns. The agreement required the defendants to provide meals that comport with halal religious tenets and to provide notice to prisoners within 30 days of entry of judgment informing them that all disciplinary actions were to be expunged insofar as they related to requests for halal meals.

On November 20, 2013, the court approved the settlement agreement and dismissed the case. In doing so, he also overruled several non-party objections to the settlement agreement and also denied several parties' motions to intervene. The court also found that the MDOC had adopted an appropriate policy regarding accommodations for halal diets. The court further directed the MDOC to expunge from prisoners' records any punishment for missing a jail appointment such as a work, school, or administrative assignment due to a conflicting religious service. The court retained jurisdiction solely for the purpose of enforcing any provision of the court's order.

The MDOC filed two appeals, but the Sixth Circuit rejected both for lack of jurisdiction on January 15, 2014 and March 3, 2014, respectively.

Over the next four years, separate members of the class action filed several motions seeking injunctions against the defendants for failure to comply with the settlement. The court repeatedly denied these requests for failure to state a claim. One such member of the class action appealed to the Sixth Circuit in December 2015. The Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court's decision to deny this member’s request for relief for allegedly being served contaminated halal food–the Sixth Circuit found such relief was not within the scope of the original settlement. Judge Cohn denied a motion for contempt and enforcement of judgment on August 29, 2018. As of April 10, 2020, the case is ongoing for monitoring and enforcement purposes.

Alex Wharton - 01/06/2015
Carolyn Weltman - 02/08/2016
Jake Parker - 07/10/2018
Elizabeth Heise - 10/30/2018


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