A panel of federal appeals court judges on Tuesday issued an opinion that will allow a former inmate and his fiancee to sue The GEO Group, which operates the Moshannon Valley Correctional Center, for denying them the right to marry.

The inmate, Brian Davis, and Fredricka K. Beckford, both of Jamaican descent, met as children and were lifelong friends. They became romantically involved after Davis in 1993 was sentenced to life in prison for his participation in what the panel of judges described as “non-violent drug trafficking.”

Davis spent many years in prison and did not consider marrying Beckford due his life term, but in 2008, his sentence was reduced to 30 years, then to 27 years, which opened up the possibility the two could have a life together.

By 2012, Davis was an inmate at the Moshannon Valley institution, which also is a processing center.

The Center is under contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to house noncitizens who are earmarked for deportation.

Beckford is a citizen, but Davis is not.

In 2015, Davis requested permission from GEO and the officials of the center to marry Beckford, but it was denied.

The inmate protested the decision, contending he met Moshannon Valley’s criteria for permission to marry — he was part of the general population, demonstrated good living skills, participated in programs and had good conduct over a period of six months.

He challenged the decision through the prison appeal process, but eventually determined that the institution had denied marriage requests for at least 20 other inmates.

He and Beckford filed a federal lawsuit asserting Moshannon Valley had an official policy of denying all marriage requests.

Both Davis and Beckford are devout Christians and noted that they viewed marriage “as an expression of that faith.”

Their federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Johnstown, claimed violations of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and Section 42 of the Civil Rights Act.

Beckford also claimed she suffered emotional distress due to GEO’s denial of the couple’s marriage request.

U.S. District Judge Kim R. Gibson in Johnstown dismissed all three claims by Davis and Beckford, and that brought about the appeal that was ruled on this week by a panel of judges from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Judges D. Brooks Smith, Theodore A. McKee and L. Felipe Restrepo upheld Gibson’s dismissal of the alleged civil rights violation and Beckford’s claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress, but vacated his dismissal of the couple’s contention that GEO’s policies had violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

“We conclude that (Davis and Beckford) have stated a RFRA claim, but their other two claims fail,” the 3rd Circuit opinion stated.

According to the opinion, the Religious Freedom Act provides that the government “shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion.”

The defendants questioned whether an individual can suffer a “substantial burden” when the religious exercise is not mandatory — pointing out neither Christian tradition nor doctrine requires its adherents to marry.

This is a question that had not been raised before, according to the opinion.

The 3rd Circuit panel concluded that Davis and Beckford desired to marry because marriage “had profound religious significance for them … because they viewed their marriage as an expression of their Christian faith.”

The couple argued that the “Defendants caused them to refrain from such religious expression and thereby violated their beliefs.”

The federal panel rejected arguments by Moshannon Valley that it imposed only “behavioral requirements” in deciding whether an inmate could marry, but the couple replied that such a policy “satisfies the substantial burden prong of the RFRA claim.”

The 3rd Circuit panel agreed.

GEO also argued that it, as a private contractor, is not a governmental agency and therefore is not subject to the provisions of the Religious Freedom Act.

The opinion stated that by operating a prison containing federal inmates, the GEO group and prison warden were government instrumentalities.

“We conclude that RFRA applies to the GEO defendants,” stated the 3rd Circuit opinion.

The federal court of appeals has now sent the case back to the District Court for further proceedings.

An order also issued Tuesday will allow Davis and Beckford to file an amended civil rights complaint.

The couple is seeking compensatory and punitive damage in excess of $75,000.