Pro Bono Clients Win Appellate Victory Protecting Religious Rights of Incarcerated Individuals in Connecticut

Paul, Weiss secured a significant appellate victory when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit revived First Amendment claims on behalf of two incarcerated pro bono clients denied access to congregate religious services. The court found that the pair were denied such access without a penological justification while they were confined in a special housing unit at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, Connecticut.

The two were among nine pro bono clients who collectively filed suit alleging that restrictions on their religious practices violated the First Amendment, and that conditions in the housing unit known as “Q-Pod”—including prolonged isolation, sanitary deficiencies and curtailed programming—violated their Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. While our clients were represented by different counsel at the trial court, the District Court for the District of Connecticut granted summary judgment in favor of the state officials on all federal counts and dismissed our clients’ state law claims.

Paul, Weiss was appointed on appeal by the Second Circuit and achieved a significant partial reversal. A unanimous panel reversed the district court’s ruling as to two of the appellants, holding that prison officials violated clearly established law by denying them access to existing Native American sweat-lodge and smudging ceremonies without any penological justification. The court emphasized that the right of prisoners to participate in congregate religious services is “well established,” and that “no reasonable officer would think it lawful” to bar Q-Pod residents from services routinely available to the general prison population. The decision reinstates the First Amendment and state law claims for the two appellants and remands the case to the district court for further proceedings.

The Paul, Weiss team included litigation associates Jamie Durling, who argued the appeal, and Andrew Fishman, supervised by litigation partner Bill Michael.