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| VDOC must change ways to avoid suits |
| By dailyprogress.com - The Daily Progress |
| Published: 09/17/2012 |
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The Virginia Department of Corrections is still trying to find its footing when it comes to civil liberties. In recent years, the department has dealt with a whole string of lawsuits alleging violations of constitutional rights. A substantial number of those lawsuits were not decided in favor of the department. And last week, a much more reasonable accommodation was reached with a Sunni Muslim prisoner whose beard is a part of his religious faith. As of 1999, the VDOC has required that inmates be clean-shaven and grow their hair no longer than their collars. That policy is much more restrictive than those of most states and even the federal Bureau of Prisons. Sunnis are not the only people whose religion embraces long hair for men or beards; Sikhs and Rastafarians also would qualify. Indeed, several Rastafarians and others had challenged the grooming policy, but the state won that case. Those who refused to cut their hair subsequently were held in solitary confinement for years. In 2010, after renewed publicity about the policy, the department decided to release them from solitary and move them to segregated quarters where they have more privileges but still are separated from other prisoners. Imagine: solitary confinement as a result of your religious beliefs. That should bother anyone who cares about the Constitution. Sunni prisoner William R. Couch sued because VDOC also made him shave his beard. Now he wants to regrow it in accordance with his faith. Read More. |
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