Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

858 F.2d 1090

Docket No. 88-2363

Frank v. Terrell

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals

Decided Oct. 31, 1988.

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals · decided 1988-10-31

1 counsel of record

Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1915 · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))

Relies on Cruz v. Beto · Childs v. Duckworth · 509 F. Supp. 1254 - Childs v. Duckworth

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Opinion by (per_curiam) · Decided 1988-10-31

How this case has been cited

Cited by 5 later decisions — most recently March 2010

3 federal appellate · 1 district ·

201988199020002010decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1Summary Calendar.

¶2Donald Ray Frank, Tennessee Colony, Tex., pro se.

¶3Before POLITZ, KING, and SMITH, Circuit Judges.

¶4PER CURIAM:

¶5The plaintiff, Donald Ray Frank, filed this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, complaining that the Texas Department of Corrections (TDC) has failed and refused to provide him with certain religious materials, such as six books and a prayer shawl, a tallit, sermon tapes, and a kippah. He does not assert that he is forbidden to possess and use these items in the exercise of his religious belief. Instead, he complains that the TDC refuses to furnish the items, free of charge, for his use. The district court, per Judge William Wayne Justice, dismissed the action as frivolous pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d). We affirm.

¶6We agree with the district court’s observation that “[t]here cannot possibly be any constitutional or legal requirement that the government provide materials for every religion and sect practiced in this diverse country” (quoting Cruz v. Beto, 405 U.S. 319, 323, 92 S.Ct. 1079, 1082, 31 L.Ed.2d 263 (1972) (Burger, C.J., concurring)). Accord, Childs v. Duckworth, 509 F.Supp. 1254, 1264 (N.D.Ind.1981), aff'd, 705 F.2d 915 (7th Cir.1983); Cochran v. Sielaff, 405 F.Supp. 1126, 1128 (S.D.Ill.1976).

¶7In Cruz v. Beto, the plaintiff alleged that he was not allowed to use the prison chapel; that he was punished for sharing his religious materials with other inmates; and that he was prohibited from corresponding with his religious advisor. The Court held that the complaint stated a constitutional claim if the plaintiff, a Buddhist, “was denied a reasonable opportunity of pursuing his faith comparable to the opportunity afforded fellow prisoners who adhere to conventional religious precepts_” 405 U.S. at 322, 92 S.Ct. at 1081.

¶8*1091Here, the plaintiff professes a religion more common in the United States, the Jewish faith. He does not assert that he is denied the opportunity to observe the tenets of that religion or that he is discriminated against for his beliefs. His only complaint is that the TDC will not provide him with certain physical materials, but he does not suggest that he has been denied the opportunity to obtain such materials on his own.

¶9The refusal to provide the demanded religious articles is well within the “latitude in the administration of prison affairs” which prison officials must be accorded. Cruz v. Beto, id. at 321, 92 S.Ct. at 1081. The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

/858/f2d/1090 · .json · Public domain