An appellate court recently ruled in favor of a prison inmate who was denied early parole, effectively speaking, for being an atheist:

Atheist Randall Jackson had been serving time in the Western Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in St. Joseph, Missouri when he learned about an opportunity to get early release on parole — all he had to do was attend the center’s “Offenders Under Treatment Program.”

Just one problem: The program was faith-based, requiring him to both pray and acknowledge the existence of God. (Another treatment program promoted Alcoholics Anonymous which is also religious in nature.)

He explained his misgivings to prison staff, and was allegedly told to pretend that “God” stood for “good orderly direction.” I think I’ve heard that one before.

This prison inmate, however, had some scruples.

Jackson eventually asked to be transferred to a secular treatment program — but his request was denied. Instead of lying and playing the game, he chose not to enroll in OUTP… and was later denied an early release.

(Emphasis added.)

This seems pretty self-evidently unconstitutional. Here we have a benefit offered to inmates, early release, conditioned on completion of a program that is pretty explicitly religious. (It’s probably safe to assume that it is Christian in nature.) The inmate in question here is an atheist, but one could substitute any non-Christian religion—or even different flavors of Christianity—and the problem presents itself even more clearly.

Jackson sued, but lost in the trial court. He appealed to the Eight Circuit:

The district court concluded, and the state argues on appeal, that Jackson voluntarily withdrew from the substance abuse program, and that voluntary withdrawal is fatal to his case. Jackson claims, however, that “[d]ue to the religious components of the program and lack of any foreseeable remedy, my choices were to withdraw from the program or remain exposed to those religious elements.” (Pg. 4)

The court ruled 2-1 that the trial court erred, and that he has a “plausible claim” for civil rights violations against prison officials. It cited a three-prong test used to determine whether the state is unlawfully coercing someone “to subscribe to religion generally, or to a particular religion”:  “first, has the state acted; second, does the action amount to coercion; and third, is the object of the coercion religious or secular?” Kerr v. Farrey, 95 F.3d 472, 479 (7th Cir. 1996). The court had no problems finding that the first prong was met, and it treated Jackson’s allegations of the program’s religious nature as sufficient evidence of the third prong. The question, then, was whether coercion was involved.

The state argued that participation in the program was optional, so it would not be possible to coerce Jackson to participate. The court noted, however, that Jackson believed participation in the program to be required in order to qualify for early parole. It was also unclear whether he could have participated in the program successfully without engaging in the religious aspects. This could constitute unlawful coercion, the court held:

While inmates have no constitutional right to early parole,…Jackson does have the right to be free from unconstitutional burdens when availing himself of existing ways to access the benefit of early parole. The fact that Jackson did not have a constitutional right to, or statutory guarantee of, early parole does not preclude him from stating a claim of unconstitutional coercion. (Pg. 7)

Would I have been so honest, or would I have faked some form of religious belief to get through the program? I don’t know.

The urge to get out of prison, I assume, is strong in most people, but Jackson’s unwillingness to bear false witness strikes me as highly commendable. The “as if” policy recommended to him by prison staff isn’t quite the same as Pascal’s Wager, but they both basically ask nonbelievers to fake it. I have no desire to be so dishonest with myself or others, though, and I hope that I can stick to that principle.

Photo credit: By jodylehigh [Public domain, CC0 1.0], via Pixabay.