SCRANTON, Pa. – A federal judge had dismissed a former inmate's religious freedom lawsuit against a Pennsylvania jail, saying he had no right to a cleric from the specific Muslim sect he preferred.
Gregory Bush sued Lackawanna County in 2014, alleging his religious expression was hampered when he was an inmate in 2012.
The (Scranton) Times-Tribune reports that the judge agreed with an attorney for the jail who argued that the jail did offer Muslim services and religious items but that Bush didn't participate because the cleric wasn't affiliated with the Nation of Islam.
Courts have ruled inmates have a right to practice their religious, but that right isn't unlimited and must be balanced against the jail's ability to run safely and efficiently.
The ruling was issued last week.
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Information from: The Times-Tribune, http://thetimes-tribune.com/
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