Inmate's satanic-bible claim must be heard, rules federal appeals court

The Associated Press

07.17.98

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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- A South Dakota State Penitentiary inmate's complaint about a ban on the possession of a satanic bible has been sent back to a federal courtroom in Sioux Falls.

A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the lower court abused its discretion when it characterized as frivolous Jay Anders' claim that his rights were violated when he was not allowed to have a satanic bible.

The ruling, filed last week, upheld the dismissal of much of Anders' lawsuit against the governor, the prison warden and various other corrections officials.

The lower court was correct to dismiss the claims in Anders' lawsuit that were based on the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act because that law has been declared unconstitutional, the 8th Circuit judges said. They also said the lower court was right to throw out Anders' claim that his rights were restricted by a policy that prohibits fires in inmate cells, prohibiting him from burning incense.

But the district court must consider the satanic bible issue again, the judges said.

"Without some evidence concerning the relationship between Anders' possession of a satanic bible and the governmental interest underlying the prison's prohibition on such possession, there is no basis for concluding that the restriction was rationally related to a legitimate governmental interest," the three-judge panel wrote.

In December 1993, Anders, 24, began serving a five-year sentence from Brule County for conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery. He and another inmate, Thomas A. Hinkle, have filed several lawsuits against state and prison officials in the past, alleging civil rights violations.