Lawsuit: Muslims praying at Missouri prison pepper-sprayed

By MARGARET STAFFORD
Associated Press

A lawsuit filed by a Muslim advocacy group alleges that corrections officers at a Missouri prison used pepper spray on Muslims while they were praying and then retaliated when they complained. The lawsuit was filed Thursday by the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Missouri and the CAIR Legal Fund. It alleges that corrections officers at the state prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri, doused Muslims with pepper spray as they were praying in their housing unit in February 2021. The lawsuit alleges that the men had been allowed to pray previously, and the attack was unprovoked. State prison officials did not immediately return a request for comment.