Richmond, VA – A U.S. District Court Judge heard oral arguments this morning in a lawsuit challenging the Virginia Department of Corrections’ requirement that inmates keep their hair short and beards shaven. The ACLU of Virginia, which represents Muslim and Rastafarian inmates held in Virginia’s prisons, maintains that DOC’s policy violates the religious rights of prisoners whose faiths mandate hair on their heads or faces.
Lawyers for both the DOC and the ACLU of Virginia argued that the case could be decided on summary judgment, that is, without the need for an evidentiary hearing. Judge Richard Williams took the case under advisement. He said he would rule shortly.
“We were very pleased with the hearing,” said ACLU of Virginia executive director Kent Willis. “The judge was clearly concerned that the DOC had adopted this anti-religion policy without any evidence that it was necessary to protect prison security.”
The DOC policy, which was enacted in 1999, requires all inmates to have their hair “cut above the shirt collar and around the ears” and to be no more than one inch in “thickness/depth.” All inmates must be clean shaven, except for mustaches, unless they can obtain a medical exception. The policy contains no religious exemptions, meaning many incarcerated Muslims, Native Americans, and Rastafarians are forced to abandon central tenets of their religious beliefs or face punishment.
The ACLU lawsuit claims that DOC’s policy violates the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, or RLUIPA, which was passed by Congress in 2000 to protect the right of persons to practice their faiths despite incarceration.
The case, originally filed in February 2003, was put on hold while the constitutionality of RLUIPA was challenged in a separate lawsuit. In December 2003, however, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals held that RLUIPA did not violate the First Amendment mandate for separation of church and state, thus allowing the current case to proceed. Later, in a separate case, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of RLUIPA.
ACLU of Virginia legal director Rebecca Glenberg and Stephen Rosenfield represent five Virginia inmates who were punished for not complying with the policy or who were forced to comply with it to avoid punishment. Two of the inmates are Rastafarians whose religious beliefs oblige them to allow their hair to grow, and three are Muslims who are prohibited from cutting their beards. Ms.Glenberg argued the case in court today.
Contacts:
Kent Willis or Rebecca Glenberg, ACLU of Virginia, 804/644-8022
