More Lovelock inmates accused of religious discrimination • Nevada Current

A chaplain at Lovelock Correctional Center’s devotion to the Baptist faith violates inmates’ rights to practice their own religion, according to a lawsuit filed Sept. 30 by two inmates. This is at least the third lawsuit in recent years alleging that prison officials have discriminated against members of certain faiths.

Daniel Riggs, a Catholic serving time for attempted sexual assault, and Brian Harmer, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sentenced to prison for molesting a minor, affirm more than two dozen Nevada Department of Corrections officials, including Director James Dzurenda, former Director Charlie Daniels and Chaplain Lovelock Scott Davis, conspired to violate the religious rights of inmates.

Until 2018, the lawsuit says, the chapel at Lovelock Prison was open seven days a week to inmates of various faiths. Today, the complaint alleges, the chapel changed its schedule to accommodate standard Sunday services and comply with court orders issued by federal judge Miranda Du in two previous cases – one brought by a Muslim prisoner who was denied the obligatory Friday prayer, and the other by prisoners known as the Way prayer group.

Lovelock inmate Syed Elmajzoub won $95,000 in damages after proving that prison staff violated his right to worship at the times prescribed by the Muslim faith, while the group The Way was awarded $75,000 after it proved , that prison staff participated in a conspiracy to deprive Muslim and other members of their constitutional rights to practice religion.

Riggs and Harmer are seeking more than $75,000 in damages each.

Instead of responding to the complaints by restoring time for religious instruction, the current lawsuit alleges that Davis, a chaplain, founded a Bible college “that specifically teaches the doctrines of the Independent Baptist Church, a Protestant church that is openly hostile to the LDS and Catholics. churches,” as well as “reassigned chapel slots taken from other religious groups, including Catholic and LDS, to hold chapel Bible college classes — taught by Davis.”

When the chapel was closed in June 2020 due to COVID, classes at the Bible college continued, the lawsuit alleges.

In late 2020, an endless series of video sermons delivered by Davis began playing on the prison’s closed-circuit television, while “a large number of Catholic DVDs and LDS instructional DVDs that were donated” to the prison were not being used, the complaint said .

Reached by email, Davis referred the Current to NDOC, which did not respond to requests for comment.

“Defendants’ violations in this case exceed those in previous cases and are ongoing,” Riggs and Harmer said in their handwritten complaint.

The lawsuit alleges that at times clergy were not allowed into Lovelock Prison.

“A Catholic meeting could not be called a Mass, and an LDS meeting could not be called a sacramental service,” the complaint states. “Plaintiff Riggs did not have access to Holy Communion, confession of his sins to a Catholic priest, or any other Catholic sacraments.”

Harmer could not “receive a priest’s blessing from the LDS clergy, receive religious counsel and instruction from an LDS bishop, or participate in any LDS church practices or sacraments,” the lawsuit alleges. “From a practical point of view, the plaintiffs had no church services.”

When the chapel reopened in 2022, Catholic services were scheduled for Thursdays and All Saints services for Mondays, despite prison officials knowing that “this is the basic tenet (sic) of both the Catholic and the Saints religious of God to visit the church on Sundays.” claim the plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs claim that inmates, except for those who filed lawsuits over their access to the chapel, were required to submit weekly requests to attend services.

Under a federal law — the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) — a prison or jail cannot substantially burden an inmate’s practice of religion unless it can demonstrate that it has a compelling interest that cannot be served by any other less restrictive measures. means

However, violations of the religious freedom of prisoners continue – not only in Nevada.

Prisoners have sued in several states for a range of violations, including what is allowed no reading material but the Bible; for non-receipt kosher meals; for the prohibition of wearing religious headdresses; and for right receive Christmas and prayer cards.