Wisconsin's policy barring clergy from visiting inmates over COVID-19 is ruled unconstitutional
MADISON – The state's former policy to not allow clergy members to visit prison inmates over COVID-19 concerns was ruled unconstitutional Friday after a Jefferson County judge found that it violated the state's guarantee to freely practice religion.
The lawsuit, filed last year by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and attorneys for the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, took aim at a Department of Correction's policy that barred visitors from prisons in March 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic swept the state.
Jefferson County Circuit Judge William Hue said in his decision that while the department has the right to lock down facilities to protect the health of inmates within, it does not have the right to continually block clergy, even as other people are permitted into facilities.
"When it is safe for 'external visitors' to enter the prison system ... clergy with privilege must be permitted to reasonably exercise that privilege and also be permitted to enter correctional institutions no less than once a week to conduct religious services."
Anthony LoCoco, deputy counsel for WILL, said the decision marked a good day for religious liberty in the state.
"Department of Corrections bureaucrats may not simply disregard the statutory and constitutional rights of Wisconsin’s clergy or relegate those rights to second-class status," he said in a statement. "This decision will help ensure that officials across state government put the religious rights of Wisconsinites first in the future rather than last.”
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In a statement, John Beard, the department's director of communications, said that the agency supervises more than 20,000 people and that a disease such as COVID-19 could easily spread and cause illness and death if mitigation measures weren't taken.
"That is why it has been our top priority throughout the coronavirus pandemic to keep people in our care safe by working to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our institutions, including limiting visitations to minimize the risk of bringing COVID-19 into our institutions," he said. "Since vaccines have become widely available, our department began allowing in-person visitations some time ago now, including visitations by members of clergy."
Beard said the department is still reviewing the decision and its implications.
In the lawsuit, the Catholic archdiocese contended that its constitutional rights were being violated by not being able to minister to prisoners seeking services. It also argued that the policy was unjust because the department was still allowing lawyers, social workers, teachers and psychologists to meet with inmates in person.
Prisoners were still able to meet with their institution's chaplain, but the chaplain often comes from a different faith than the inmate requesting a consultation.
The lawsuit said the department violated the archdiocese's constitutional right to freely exercise its religion, which directs them to minister to prisoners, as well as its statutory right to conduct religious services within prisons at least once a week.
The department could take similar precautions that were taken for other visitors, such as temperature checks, mask requirements, COVID tests, hygiene procedures, social distancing, outdoor meetings or even proof of vaccination.
Clergy members were eventually allowed back into prisons in July 2021, after a ruling from the court.
Laura Schulte can be reached at leschulte@jrn.com and on Twitter at @SchulteLaura.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin COVID-19 policy barring clergy from prisons unconstitutional
