VIA CERTIFIED MAIL & ELECTRONIC MAIL: director.clarke@vadoc.virginia.gov

 

May 24, 2019
Director Harold W. Clarke
Virginia Department of Corrections
P.O. Box 26963
Richmond, VA 23261-6963
Director Clarke:
Muslim Advocates, the Islamic Circle of North America’s Council for Social Justice, and
the Virginia Prison Justice Network write to bring to your urgent attention violations of the free
exercise rights of Muslim inmates detained in Virginia Department of Corrections (“VDOC”)
facilities during the holy month of Ramadan. We have received repeated reports from several
VDOC facilities that detained Muslims observing Ramadan are regularly not receiving breakfast
before their fasting begins, are being needlessly forced to wait an hour or more after sundown
before receiving dinner, and are being denied access to adequate potable water after fasting hours.
Not only does such systemic mistreatment jeopardize the health of inmates who are observing the
Ramadan fast, but it also violates their well-established rights under the Free Exercise Clause of
the First Amendment, the Eighth Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment, and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc,
et seq. (“RLUIPA”).
We ask that you take immediate steps to address the unlawful conditions at VDOC facilities
before Ramadan ends on or around June 4, 2019, so that all observing Muslims incarcerated in
VDOC facilities can timely receive adequate food and drink and practice their faith fully and
freely. To ensure that these issues do not arise again, we also request that you mandate trainings
for VDOC staff regarding Ramadan practices and increase oversight of all facilities’ meal delivery
during Ramadan now and in the future.
I.

Muslim Inmates in VDOC Facilities Are Not Receiving Adequate Food and Water
during Ramadan

Ramadan, the holiest month of the Muslim calendar, lasts approximately 30 days. As part
of fulfilling their religious duties during the month, observant Muslims must forego all food and
all drink, including water, from sunrise until sundown. Muslims are also religiously obligated to

 

  
stop eating immediately upon sunrise and to break their fast promptly upon sunset. During
Ramadan, Muslims must consume all food and water during non-fasting hours. This year,
Ramadan started on or about May 6, 2019 and will end on or about June 4, 2019.
We have received repeated reports that inmates in VDOC facilities have faced substantial
hurdles in their efforts to fast during Ramadan. At Red Onion State Prison (“Red Onion”) in Pound,
Virginia, prison staff have repeatedly and purposefully failed to serve breakfast before sunrise to
inmates known to be fasting. Accordingly, Muslim inmates are receiving their morning meals after
the fast has begun. This pressures inmates to choose between eating their much-needed morning
meal or observing their faith and going without any food or drink until the evening. Inmates at Red
Onion have also had to regularly wait an hour or more after sundown before receiving their dinner.
Similarly, at River North Correctional Center (“River North”) in Independence, Virginia, Muslim
inmates have been compelled to wait an hour or more after sundown—after an already sixteenhour fast—before receiving their dinners. Furthermore, River North staff have also denied inmates
access to adequate potable water after fasting hours and the only clean water they receive during
the entire day is the insufficient amount that comes with their often-belated meals. At both
facilities, non-fasting inmates, unlike Muslim inmates, receive their food on time, are able to eat
meals, and have access to drinkable water throughout the day. We believe that Red Onion and
River North are not the only facilities to be impacted by Ramadan-related issues and that this is
reflective of a broader problem at VDOC facilities.
II.

VDOC Is Legally Mandated to Accommodate Muslim Inmates’ Ramadan
Practice

The Supreme Court has long held that “prison walls do not form a barrier
separating prison inmates from the Constitution,” Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 84 (1987), and
that inmates “clearly retain” First Amendment protections, including the right to free exercise of
religion. See O’Lone v. Estate of Shabazz, 482 U.S. 342, 348, 107 S. Ct. 2400, 2404, 96 L. Ed. 2d
282 (1987). RLUIPA further protects state detainees’ free exercise of religion by subjecting all
substantial burdens on religious exercise to the strictest standard of constitutional scrutiny. See 42
U.S.C. § 2000bb et seq. A substantial burden is a burden that places “substantial pressure” on an
individual to modify his behavior and violate his beliefs or one that forces a person to choose
between following his religion and forfeiting government benefits. See Lovelace v. Lee, 472 F.3d
174, 187 (4th Cir. 2006). Under both the First Amendment and RLUIPA, an individual’s religious
exercise can only be substantially burdened if the government can provide a compelling reason for
creating the burden. 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc et seq. (requiring a compelling interest and narrowly
tailoring any restrictions to achieve that purpose); Turner, 482 U.S. at 89 (requiring the restriction
to be reasonably related to a legitimate penological objective). If a compelling interest does not
exist, the burden is impermissible. See id.

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Prisoners have clearly established rights under the Free Exercise Clause of the First
Amendment and RLUIPA to receive a diet consistent with their sincerely held religious
beliefs. See Lovelace, 472 F.3d at 198. Inmates are also entitled to sufficient calories and nutrition
while incarcerated. See Shrader v. White, 761 F.2d 975, 986 (4th Cir.1985). The Fourth Circuit
has held that the observance of Ramadan is a religious exercise either central to or compelled by
Islam and protected under RLUIPA. See Lovelace, 472 F.3d at 186–87. As such, burdens on the
ability of Muslim inmates to observe the Ramadan fast constitute violations of RLUIPA. Id. As
Virginia federal courts have found, breaking the Ramadan fast with an evening meal upon
sundown is a religious exercise covered by RLUIPA. See Evans v. Jabe, No. 3:11CV104, 2014
WL 202023, at *8 (E.D. Va. Jan. 17, 2014). Fasting inmates are also entitled to receive a morning
meal timely before sunrise. See Toney v. Harrod, No. 15-3209-EFM-DJW, 2017 WL 4758962, at
*4–5 (D. Kan. Oct. 20, 2017) (finding that inmate was entitled to receive a meal prior to the
beginning of his Ramadan fast at the required time as part of his religious practice). Inmates’
religious exercise rights under both the First Amendment and RLUIPA are violated when a
prison’s Ramadan meal delivery schedule leads to nutrient deprivation or undue hunger, and
adversely impact inmates’ well-being and religious experience. See Lovelace v. Bassett, No.
7:07CV00506, 2008 WL 4452638, at *3 (W.D. Va. Sept. 27, 2008).
A Ramadan meal policy that results in Muslim inmates being treated differently from nonMuslim inmates, including being denied the same amount of food or water as non-Muslim inmates,
also violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. See id. at *4.
Additionally, the Supreme Court has established that the Eighth Amendment imposes a duty on
prisons to provide humane conditions of confinement, including ensuring that prisoners receive
adequate food and water. See, e.g., Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 833 (1994). VDOC has even
recognized the fundamental importance of respecting and accommodating inmates’ Ramadan
practice in its own regulations. See, e.g., Operating Procedure § 841.3.
The Constitution and RLUIPA protect VDOC’s Muslim inmates’ right to observe
Ramadan. Yet, by not providing breakfast until after fasting has commenced, VDOC facilities like
Red Onion and River North have repeatedly forced Muslim inmates to choose between receiving
food for the day and practicing their faith. VDOC facilities have also prevented inmates from
following their religious obligation of breaking their fasts in a timely manner, immediately upon
sundown, by failing to serve dinner to fasting inmates until an hour or more after sundown.
Moreover, in preventing Muslim inmates from being able to access sufficient drinkable water after
sundown, VDOC facilities have forced Muslim inmates to choose between sufficient potable water
and their religious practice. Such actions clearly run afoul of the protections enshrined in both
RLUIPA and the First Amendment. VDOC facilities also violate of RLUIPA and the Fourteenth
Amendment by treating Muslim inmates on less than equal terms with other inmates and forcing
them to go without meals, adequate clean water, and timely served meals—which are not denied
to non-Muslim inmates. In fact, inmates who are not fasting have received access to drinkable

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water while Muslim inmates have not. Finally, the Eighth Amendment mandates that prisons
provide humane conditions of confinement. Denying fasting inmates more than a cup or two of
drinkable water a day falls far short of those obligations. Accordingly, VDOC has systematically
burdened the religious exercise of Muslim inmates during Ramadan, discriminated against them,
and subjected them to unlawful and inhumane conditions in violation of the Constitution.
III.

Conclusion

Only ten days remain before the end of Ramadan. It is therefore imperative that you take
immediate steps to ensure that the Muslim inmates currently detained in all VDOC facilities can
observe their faith during this critically important time. We request that you ensure that the inmates
observing Ramadan at Red Onion, River North, and all other VDOC facilities receive their sunrise
and sunset meals on time and are given access to drinkable water throughout the night. We further
request that you train VDOC staff regarding Ramadan practices and increase oversight of facilities’
meal delivery systems for Ramadan now and in the future.
Given the gravity of the situation and its time-sensitive nature, we request a prompt
response to this correspondence. You may reply to Nimra Azmi at nimra@muslimadvocates.org
or at the address below. We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
/s/ Nimra H. Azmi
Nimra H. Azmi
Staff Attorney*
Muslim Advocates
P.O. Box 34440
Washington, D.C. 20043
(202) 897-1892

/s/ Margaret Breslau
Margaret Breslau
Chair, Coalition for Justice
(Blacksburg)
Co-Founder, Virginia Prison
Justice Network
justicebburg@gmail.com

* Admitted in New York,
practice limited to federal
courts and agencies

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/s/ Rameez Abid
Rameez Abid
Outreach Director
ICNA Council for Social Justice
1952 Gallows Road, Suite 102
Vienna, VA 22182
info@icnacsj.org
(571) 215-7670