The Freedom From Religion Foundation has written to the South Central Correctional Center in order to correct two constitutional violations isolating all non-Christian prisoners.
FFRF was informed by a current resident of SCCC that a Christian revival group has been granted special access to preach to residents. The group blasts music on the outside ball field for all general population (“gen pop”) residents to hear. Additionally, the group proselytizes gen pop residents during outdoor recreation periods. The complainant notes that he is unable to go outside and enjoy recreational time without being preached at or being exposed to worship music. The missionary group reportedly has received permission to perform on the ballfield for two years.
Furthermore, despite the complainant’s requests, the correctional center’s library, which features religious material, has no material for atheists, agnostics or freethinkers. The complainant alleges that he has made requests for atheist material, all of which have been denied.
“Whether inside or outside, residents of SCCC who are nonreligious cannot escape government-sanctioned Christianity,” FFRF Patrick O’Reiley Legal Fellow Hirsh M. Joshi wrote to Warden Michele Buckner. “Denying atheist literature, while also allowing Christian preaching, rises to the level of coercion prohibited by the federal First Amendment and Missouri’s Constitution.”
FFRF is insisting that atheist literature be included in the library’s catalog, and all attending groups be instructed to stop proselytizing to all residents in common areas during outdoor recreation hours.
SCCC residents do not shed their right to read when they enter. The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) also prohibits the banning of books based on their religious or irreligious nature. Banning or prohibiting books for atheists—despite pleas to include them—chills prisoners’ First Amendment rights. SCCC must use the least restrictive means possible to justify its policy of disallowing atheist books.
Non-religious residents who do not wish to be preached at face a difficult decision at SCCC: Either take outdoor recreational time requiring exposure to religious music and preaching against their conscience, or stay inside, forfeiting outdoor exercise and recreation. That is an untenable ultimatum under the Establishment Clause.
Both the First Amendment and Missouri’s Establishment Clause prohibit this level of coercion and preferential treatment for Christianity and Christian groups.
FFRF has indicated that accommodations for Christian inmates must not have a spill-over effect in proselytizing others—thereby discouraging prisoners from utilizing common resources. Our Constitution’s command is clear: Outside groups cannot be given special access to proselytize a prison’s residents-at-large. Accommodation for one is not permission to preach to another.
To respect the rights of all residents, SCCC must stock nontheistic literature in its libraries, and disallow outside religious groups from preaching to general population residents as a whole.
“At a time when almost three-in-ten adult Americans have no religious affiliation, it is an egregious denial of First Amendment rights to inflict religious services on a captive audience and to deny them equal access to nonreligious literature,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “In this Golden Era of atheism, there’s no excuse for any publicly supported library to lack the many books about religion from a nonreligious perspective by distinguished authors and researchers. In fact, FFRF would be pleased to donate some of these to the prison.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with over 40,000 members across the country, including more than 400 in Missouri. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
