INDIANAPOLIS— A federal prison in Indiana on Wednesday was expected to begin allowing American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh and other Muslim inmates housed in his tightly controlled unit to begin holding daily ritual group prayers.
The government had until Tuesday to appeal U.S. District Judge Jane Maguns-Stinson’s Jan. 11 ruling allowing the daily group prayers, but it didn’t. Maguns-Stinson found that a prison policy preventing Lindh and the other Muslims in his unit from praying together daily when not locked in their cells violated a 1993 law banning the government from curtailing religious speech without showing a compelling interest.
She said her ruling didn’t prohibit less restrictive security measures in the Communications Management Unit, which houses terrorists and other inmates the government doesn’t want freely communicating with the outside world.
It wasn’t immediately known if the prison began allowing the daily group prayers Wednesday. Prison officials didn’t respond to a phone message seeking comment and a spokesman said U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett was traveling and unavailable to comment.
Ken Falk, the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, which represented Lindh in a lawsuit challenging the prison policy, said he intended to make sure the prison had begun allowing the daily prayers.
Read More at OfficialWire . By Charles Wilson.