United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

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No. 02-1969

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Darrell Theodore Kind, *

*

Appellant, *

* Appeal from the United States

v. * District Court for the

* District of Minnesota.

Sheriff Frank; Sgt. Heinen; Dan *

Luke; Sgt. Alhgren; Sgt. Wanike, * 

*

Appellees. *

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Submitted: March 28, 2003

Filed: May 30, 2003

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Before MELLOY, HEANEY, and SMITH, Circuit Judges.

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HEANEY, Circuit Judge.

Darrell Theodore Kind was incarcerated in the Washington County Jail in

Minnesota for two and a half months in 1998. Kind brought a § 1983 action against

employees at the jail because he claims they violated his First Amendment freeexercise-of-religion right by refusing to place him on a vegetarian diet to

accommodate his Muslim faith. He also alleges that the jail retaliated against him for

exercising his constitutional rights and denied him access to the courts. Upon the

magistrate’s recommendation, the district court granted summary judgment to the jail

officials on all counts, concluding they were entitled to qualified immunity on the
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free-exercise claim, and that the other claims were without merit. The case was

dismissed with prejudice. Kind appeals. 

“In a claim arising under the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause, an

inmate must first establish that a challenged policy restricts the inmate’s free exercise

of a sincerely held religious belief.” Brown-El v. Harris, 26 F.3d 68, 69 (8th Cir.

1994). When Kind arrived at the jail, he indicated he was Muslim and requested a

vegetarian diet. Senior Program Director Dan Luke referred to instructional

information provided to the jail by the Islamic Center of Minnesota, the Institute of

Islamic Information in Chicago, and the Department of Islamic Affairs in

Washington, D.C. regarding Kind’s request. He also spoke with staff at the Islamic

Center of Minnesota regarding the necessity of a vegetarian diet for Muslim inmates.

All sources confirmed that a pork-free diet was essential to the practice of Islam, but

that a vegetarian diet was not. Luke and Kind discussed his dietary needs on

March 26, 1998, and Luke asked Kind to present some sort of documentation

indicating that the exercise of Islam required a vegetarian diet. Kind did not produce

any information. Luke placed Kind on a pork-free diet. 

Kind filed a grievance with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights,

claiming that the Washington County Jail violated his right to religious freedom by

failing to provide him with a vegetarian diet. After the Department found probable

cause to support his grievance, Washington County agreed to adopt a new policy that

would allow any inmate to request, for any reason, vegetarian meals. The county’s

new policy did not go into effect until after Kind had left the Washington County Jail.

“Qualified immunity shields government officials from suit unless their

conduct violated a clearly established constitutional or statutory right of which a

reasonable person would have known.” Yowell v. Combs, 89 F.3d 542, 544 (8th Cir.

1996). It is well settled that jail and prison inmates “have the right to be provided

with food sufficient to sustain them in good health [and] that satisfies the dietary laws
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of their religion.” McElyea v. Babbitt, 833 F.2d 196, 198 (9th Cir. 1987). It is not

well-established, however, that Muslims must be offered a meat-free diet. Luke

educated himself about Muslim practices before determining that a vegetarian diet

was unnecessary for Kind. The government defendants in this case held an

objectively reasonable belief that they were not violating the plaintiff’s constitutional

rights by offering him a pork-free diet out of respect for his religious beliefs. Curry

v. Crist, 226 F.3d 974, 977 (8th Cir. 2000). Granting the appellees qualified

immunity in this case is proper.

Next, Kind asserts the jail retaliated against him by transferring him to another

facility for asserting his constitutional rights of freedom of religion and access to the

courts. The record demonstrates that Kind was disciplined and transferred due to a

pattern of misbehavior and repeated violations of the jail’s rules of conduct. He has

failed to show that but for his assertions of his constitutional rights, he would not

have been transferred; his misconduct appears to have been reason enough for this

administrative action.

Finally, Kind asserts he was denied his constitutional right of access to the

courts because the jail interfered with his mail, prevented him from accessing certain

legal materials, and denied him sufficient amounts of writing paper. Actual injury or

prejudice must be proven to prevail on an access-to-courts claim. Lewis v. Casey,

518 U.S. 343 (1996). There is nothing in the record to show Kind lost a specific

claim in any legal proceeding as a result of the jail’s alleged interference. 

Accordingly, we affirm. See 8th Cir. R. 47B.
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A true copy.

Attest:

CLERK, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, EIGHTH CIRCUIT.