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| Inmate Can Sue Ohio Over Grooming |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 12/21/2001 |
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Ohio can be sued for cutting the beard of a Jewish inmate. The Supreme Court refused recently to intervene and block the trial. Ohio leaders argued that the case could provoke thousands of lawsuits. In prisons around the country inmates are forced to follow grooming rules intended to control contraband and gang activity. Courts have generally sided with authorities in rules fights. But in this case an appeals court said Hbrandon Lee Flagner, a Hasidic Jew, has a legitimate case that he was wronged by officials who twice cut his beard and sideburns. Justices refused to take Ohio's appeal in the case that pits public safety against an individual's freedom of religion. Flagner claims he is not a security risk and has a First Amendment right to follow his religious beliefs and traditions, including letting his facial hair grow. Twenty states joined Ohio in urging the Supreme Court to consider the case. Attorneys for those states said if exemptions are allowed 'the ability of prison officials to maintain security will inevitably falter, thereby placing the safety and welfare of prison staff, inmates, and the general public at risk.' Ohio requires inmates to have neatly groomed mustaches, beards and sideburns, cut within a half inch of the skin to keep inmates from hiding weapons or drugs. Officials put Flagner, a convicted murderer, in isolation for refusing to follow the rule, then eventually cut his hair. Although a divided three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Flagner in ordering a trial, the judges said he cannot try to collect damages from prison officials who have immunity. A trial challenging the rule has been on hold, pending the high court's decision. Flagner claims to have molested hundreds of girls. He is serving a life sentence in the 1980 disappearance of an 8-year-old girl. He became a Hasidic Jew in 1991 while in prison and was at times exempted from the prison's grooming regulations. He said his beard and sideburns were cut against his will in 1996 and 1998. Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery said if Flagner wins this case, other inmates will file challenges of rules dealing with things like library access, visiting procedures, drug testing, job assignments and housing. 'That judgment carries significant real-world adverse consequences for prison administrators,' Montgomery told Supreme Court in court filings. |
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