by Dana Gentry, Nevada Current

The chaplain at Lovelock Correctional Center’s devotion to the Baptist faith is infringing on inmates’ rights to practice their own religions, says a lawsuit filed Sept. 30 by two prisoners. It’s at least the third lawsuit in recent years alleging the prison’s officials discriminated against members of certain faiths. 

Daniel Riggs, a Catholic who is serving time for attempted sexual assault, and Bryan Harmer, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sentenced to prison for lewdness with a minor, allege more than two dozen Nevada Department of Corrections officials, including director James Dzurenda, former director Charlie Daniels, and Lovelock Chaplain Scott Davis conspired to violate inmates’ religious rights. 

Until 2018, the suit says, the chapel at the Lovelock prison was open seven days a week to inmates of a variety of faiths. Today, the complaint alleges, the chapel has adjusted its schedule to provide standard Sunday services and to satisfy the court orders issued by Federal Judge Miranda Du in two previous cases – one brought by a Muslim inmate who was denied the opportunity to observe a mandated Friday prayer, and the other by inmates known as The Way prayer group. 

Lovelock inmate Said Elmajzoub won a settlement of $95,000 after he proved the prison staff violated his right to worship at the times prescribed by the Muslim faith, and The Way group received a $75,000 settlement after it proved prison staff engaged in a conspiracy to deprive Muslim and other members of their constitutional rights to worship. 

Riggs and Harmer are asking for compensatory damages in excess of $75,000 each.

Instead of responding to complaints by restoring times for religious instruction, the current suit alleges Davis, the chaplain, began a bible college “that specifically teaches the doctrines of the Independent Baptist Church – a Protestant church that is expressly hostile to the LDS and the Catholic churches,” and “reappropriated chapel time slots taken from other faith groups, including Catholic and LDS, to hold bible college classes in the chapel – which were taught by Davis.” 

When the chapel closed in June 2020 as a result of COVID, bible college classes alone continued, the suit alleges. 

In late 2020, an endless loop of video sermons delivered by Davis began playing on the prison’s closed circuit televisions, while “a plethora of Catholic and LDS instructional DVDs that had been donated” to the prison sat unused, the complaint says. 

Davis, reached via email, referred the Current to NDOC, which did not respond to requests for comment. 

“The defendants’ violations in the instant case exceed those in the preceding cases and are still continuing presently,” says the handwritten complaint from Riggs and Harmer.

The suit alleges that at times, clergy members have not been allowed in the Lovelock prison. 

“The Catholic meetings could not be called Mass, nor could the LDS meetings be called a sacramental service,” the complaint says. “Plaintiff Riggs had no access to receive Holy Communion, nor to confess his sins to a Catholic priest, nor to any other Catholic sacraments.”  

Harmer was unable “to receive a priestly blessing from LDS clergy, receive religious counseling and instruction from an LDS bishop, nor participate in any LDS church practices or sacraments,” the suit alleges. “For all practical purposes, the plaintiffs had no church services.” 

When the chapel reopened in 2022, Catholic services were scheduled for Thursday and LDS services for Monday, despite prison officials’ knowledge that “it is a fundamental tenant (sic) of both the Catholic and LDS faiths to specifically attend church on Sundays,” the plaintiffs assert. 

The plaintiffs allege inmates, with the exception of those who filed lawsuits over their access to the chapel, were required to submit weekly requests to attend services.  

Under federal law – The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) –  a prison or jail cannot substantially burden a prisoner’s exercise of his or her religion unless it can demonstrate that it has a compelling interest that cannot be achieved through any other less restrictive means. 

However, violations of inmates’ religious freedom persist – not just in Nevada. 

Inmates have sued in multiple states for a host of violations, including being allowed no reading material but the Bible; for failing to receive kosher meals; for being prohibited from wearing religious headgear; and for the right to receive Christmas and prayer cards. 

Nevada Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: [email protected]. Follow Nevada Current on Facebook and X.