Written by Don Byrd
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
I’m a little late to this, but on Friday the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a suit in which a prisoner claimed the requirement that he cut his dreadlocks violated his religious freedom rights. Prison officials determined that Omar Grayson’s religion, African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem, does not in fact prohibit hair-cutting, but the Appeals Court said the prison’s policy is inappropriate.
“No more can the prison permit Rastafarians to wear long hair and without justification forbid a sincere African Hebrew Israelite to do so, even if he is more zealous in his religious observances than his religion requires him to be,” Judge Richard Posner wrote on behalf of the three-judge panel.
Posner included an image of reggae singer and Rastafarian Bob Marley, dreadlocks akimbo, in the opinion. The judge noted that “dreadlocks can attain a formidable length and density,” and the matted locks could be used to conceal a shank or other contraband. But those security risks did not justify the discrimination against one faith over another, he wrote.
You can read the opinion here.
