CAIR Legal Defense Fund (CAIR LDF) today announced that – along with co-counsel Margolis & Cross – it won a $667,000 judgement against several officials of the Missouri Department of Corrections (MDOC) who pepper-sprayed eight Muslim incarcerees as they prayed.
The jury found in favor of the Plaintiffs on all of their legal claims and awarded them $667,000 in damages.
BACKGROUND:
On February 28, 2021, a group of incarcerated Muslim men gathered to pray in the dayroom of their honor wing at Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center, as they had done many times before with the express permission of prison officials. Shortly after beginning their prayer, several prison guards surrounded the praying men and began showering them with pepper spray, including with pepper spray cannisters meant to be used only to disperse riots. After soaking the men in pepper spray, guards physically beat some of the Plaintiffs, and pepper-sprayed some even after they were placed in handcuffs.
The guards’ horrific treatment of the Plaintiffs continued as they were taken to solitary confinement, where they were left to sit overnight in cold cells without access to soap or running water to wash the pepper spray from their faces and bodies. Some of the Plaintiffs resorted to toilet water to try and clean the burning spray from their bodies. The Plaintiffs were kept in solitary confinement for ten days. MDOC alleged that it violently broke up the prayer pursuant to a department-wide policy prohibiting any religious gatherings outside of the chapel but allowing gatherings for other non-religious purposes.
CAIR filed a lawsuit against the Missouri Department Corrections in 2023, challenging the pepper spray attack under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, the Eighth Amendment’s prohibitions against the use of excessive force and deliberate indifference to serious medical needs, and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
After a five-day jury trial and over one day of deliberation, the jury unanimously found in favor of Plaintiffs on all of their legal claims and awarded them $667,000 in damages.
“We said at the beginning of trial that this is an important case. The jury agreed,” said Catherine Keck, staff attorney at CAIR Legal Defense Fund. “We hope this outcome serves as a wakeup call to all carceral facilities. The constitution must be protected. No person should live in fear of abuse from those that are charged with protecting them.”
“I hope this jury verdict serves as a lesson to the Missouri Department of Corrections that brutalizing and inhumanely treating incarcerated individuals is unacceptable and will not go unpunished,” said Nadia Bayado, staff attorney at CAIR Legal Defense Fund. “Being a Muslim in America should not lead to one being subjected to excessive force or religious persecution. I am overjoyed for our clients, and I hope this verdict brings them and their families solace.”
“This is a well-deserved victory for these men who were brutalized and punished for simply seeking to get closer to God,” said Ahmad Kaki, staff attorney at CAIR Legal Defense Fund. “The Missouri Department of Corrections now must pay for its failure to treat these men with dignity, as is their right under the Constitution.”
“We are thrilled but unsurprised that the jury awarded our clients a total victory on all of their claims,” said Ian Cross, partner at Margolis and Cross. “We hope the Missouri Department of Corrections learns its lesson, changes its policies, and ensures that guards who brutalize prisoners are held accountable so they won’t repeat their actions in the future.”
“This was the definition of cruel and unusual punishment,” said Rev. Elston K. McCowan, 1st Vice President, St. Louis City NAACP. “Thank God for CAIR and these attorneys. I’m glad to live in a country where obvious religious prejudice can be seen and remedied by a jury of one’s peers.”
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Litigation Director Gadeir Abbas 720-251-0425, gabbas@cair.com; CAIR National Staff Attorney Catherine Keck 202-539-8279, ckeck@cair.com; CAIR National Staff Attorney Nadia Bayado 202-984-7643, nbayado@cair.com; CAIR National Staff Attorney Ahmad Kaki 202-640-4935,akaki@cair.com, CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com