James Barstad v. Department of Corrections Stat

MEMORANDUM

Washington state prisoner James Benjamin Barstad appeals pro se from the district court’s summary judgment in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUI-PA”) claims. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We review de novo, Shakur v. Schriro, 514 F.3d 878, 883 (9th Cir.2008), and we affirm.

The district court properly granted summary judgment on Barstad’s free exercise claim because Barstad failed to raise a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether defendants’ religious diet policy was not reasonably related to legitimate penological interests. See Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 89 , 107 S.Ct. 2254 , 96 L.Ed.2d 64 (1987) (a prison regulation that “impinges on inmates’ constitutional rights” is valid “if it is reasonably related to legitimate penological interests”); Resnick v. Adams, 348 F.3d 763, 768-71 (9th Cir.2003) (applying four-part Turner test to prisoner’s free exercise challenge to prison policy requiring prisoner to submit an application to receive kosher meals and granting summary judgment because policy was reasonably related to the prison’s interest in the orderly…