A Virginia inmate claims in a lawsuit that prison officials violated his right to exercise his religious beliefs when they refused to let him order a sermon on compact disc.
The Rutherford Institute filed the lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of Kyle Mabe, who is challenging a Virginia Department of Corrections directive allowing inmates to receive music CDs but not spoken-word CDs. No hearing has been scheduled yet in U.S. District Court in Norfolk.
Larry Traylor, a spokesman for the prison system, said he was not aware of the lawsuit and that he cannot comment on pending litigation. He was also unable to immediately explain the rationale for the department’s CD policy.
According to the lawsuit, Mabe tried to order a CD with a Christian sermon titled “Life Without a Cross” from Still Waters Ministries of Kentucky while he was an inmate at St. Brides Correctional Center in Chesapeake last September. He says the sermon was not available in written form.