Mayweathers

California State Prison administrators appeal a preliminary injunction granted and later renewed by the district court in a class action brought by Muslim inmates at California State Prison, Solano (“Solano”). The injunctions forbade prison administrators from disciplining inmates for missing work to attend hour-long Friday Sabbath services called Jumu’ah. We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Solano is a medium security prison about thirty-five miles southwest of Sacramento. Nearly 4,500 inmates out of a total of about 5,800 are enrolled in the prison’s work incentive program, in which every day of participation may reduce their sentences by one day. Inmates serving life sentences cannot receive sentence reduction credits but still participate in the program. Prison administrators assign inmates to appropriate programs “with or without the inmate’s consent.” Cal. Admin. Code tit. 15, §§ 3040(c) & (f) (2001).

If inmates miss work without the approval of their supervisors, they receive an unexcused absence, known as an “A day,” which can be grounds for discipline. Being late or “absent without authorization from a work or program assignment” is an “administrative rule…