Jesus Christ Prison Ministry v. California Department of Corrections

ORDER

Upon consent of the parties, this action has been assigned to the undersigned for all proceedings. See 28 U.S.C. § 636 (c). It is before the court on the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment. For the reasons explained below, those motions will be granted in part and denied in part.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs initiated this civil rights action by filing their verified complaint on March 3, 2005. The named plaintiffs are Jesus Christ Prison Ministry (“JCPM”) and state prisoners Daniel Leffel, Marvin Salinas, and Daniel Marchy. The named defendants are the California Department of Corrections (now the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”)); Jeane S. Woodford (Director of CDCR); and Derral G. Adams (Warden of California State Substance Abuse Treatment Facility (“SATF”) in Corcoran, California).

The verified complaint contains three causes of action. The first cause of action is brought only by the prisoner plaintiffs against all defendants. It alleges that SATF’s policy prohibiting the sending of free softbound, Christian literature, compact discs and tapes to prisoners who have requested those materials violates the Religious Land Use and…