Judge Allows Lawsuit Over Prison Grooming Policy to Proceed

June 11, 2004 12:00 am

The Associated Press
(Richmond-AP) -- A federal judge ruled today that a lawsuit challenging the Virginia Department of Corrections' requirement that inmates keep their hair short and beards shaven can proceed.

In a release issued yesterday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia said the policy violates the religious rights of prisoners

whose faiths mandate hair on their heads or faces. The ACLU is representing Muslim and Rastafarian inmates.

The correction department's policy requires that all inmates have their hair cut above their shirt collar and around the ears. Their hair can be no more than an inch in depth. All inmates must be clean shaven, except for mustaches, unless they have a medical exception.

The policy -- enacted in 1999 -- does not make exceptions for religious beliefs.

The ACLU says the policy violates the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which was passed by Congress in 2000

to protect the religious rights of those incarcerated.