Will qualified immunity protect a Fort Worth prison chaplain accused of discrimination?
A federal prison chaplain accused of discriminating against non-Catholic believers has claimed he should be protected from a lawsuit because he is entitled to qualified immunity.
Michael Onuh, the Catholic chaplain at Carswell FMC prison in Fort Worth, was sued by Casey Campbell, a Protestant chaplain at the prison, in 2019. The lawsuit accuses Onuh of subjecting colleagues and inmates to religious discrimination and harassment over the course of seven years while the Federal Bureau of Prisons ignored complaints.
The Bureau of Prisons has declined to answer questions from the Star-Telegram, citing the pending lawsuit. The Fort Worth Diocese doesn’t have jurisdiction over federal prison chaplains, according to a spokesperson. Onuh could not be reached for comment.
Qualified immunity is a legal defense that law enforcement and other government officials can raise in response to lawsuits related to civil rights violations. The defense has come under fire in recent years as it relates to fatal police shootings.
Claiming qualified immunity
Onuh argues that since he is employed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, he is a government employee and is entitled to qualified immunity.
To be granted qualified immunity, a defendant has to prove that the right they’re accused of violating was not clearly established at the time of the complaint. They also have to show that a reasonable official would not have understood that what they were doing was a rights violation.
Onuh claims neither of these requirements were fulfilled by Campbell’s lawsuit.
Campbell’s problems with Onuh began in 2012 when the Catholic chaplain started to make derogatory remarks about Protestant chaplains. Onuh also refused to escort non-Catholic volunteers at the prison as required by his job and refused to supervise non-Catholic activities, which left non-Catholic chaplains with extra work, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit says that many others at FMC Carswell, including fellow chaplains, other employees, volunteers, visitors and prisoners also complained about Onuh’s behavior for more than four years.
One woman who has been incarcerated since 2016 told the Star-Telegram that she was effectively forced to stop practicing her Catholic faith because she’s faced discrimination along with “racist comments, degrading accusations, backbiting and outright disdain for myself and others” from Onuh.
Campbell escalated his complaints in 2017 and filed with the BOP’s Equal Employment Opportunity Office. Two years later, an investigation determined that Campbell was a victim of religious discrimination and was eligible for compensation.
Campbell filed the lawsuit after the EEO ruling.
Campbell argued that Onuh knew his behavior was illegal because he was told by the BOP and his supervisors that it was. He says the EEO ruling in Campbell’s favor proves this argument.
Campbell’s attorneys in a court filing also point out that Onuh never denied his behavior in the claim for qualified immunity.
“He does not dispute that he engaged in the years-long religious discrimination and harassment that he inflicted upon Casey Campbell, which conduct his co-Defendant, the Attorney General of the United States, has already condemned,” the filing says.
Another outcry
Pamela Mills, a Catholic woman formerly incarcerated at Carswell, testified in the lawsuit that she was at the prison when Onuh began working there in 2012.
Soon after he arrived, Mills said he asked her if she had spoken with the other prison chaplain. When she said yes, Onuh told her that Campbell was a “young, snot nosed Chaplain who makes a joke out of religion,” she testified.
When she told Onuh that she would continue to work with all chaplains and religions at the prison, which were her job duties as a Chaplain Clerk, Onuh told her she was “not a true Catholic,” according to her testimony. She said he stopped talking to her and ignored her while she worked.
“Mills felt shunned and betrayed by Onuh, her priest, so much so, that she did not attend Catholic mass during her final year at FMC Carswell, and she went to other faith services during that time,” according to a court filing in the lawsuit.
She testified that she also “saw him at mass publicly browbeat, embarrass and humiliate those who angered him, even denying the sacrament of communion to Catholics who somehow failed to satisfy his expectations.”
She is the second woman incarcerated at Carswell who has made public complaints against Onuh. Two other chaplains also filed EEO complaints against the chaplain, according to the lawsuit.
Judge Mark Pittman has not yet ruled on Onuh’s qualified immunity claim.
