Written by Don Byrd
Inmates in an Alabama prison have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a policy that requires them to wear their hair short in violation of their Native American religious beliefs. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected their argument that the Department of Corrections policy runs afoul of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) by failing to consider alternate means of achieving their security goals.
The Montgomery Advertiser reports:
Doug Dark Horns Bailey, an artist, Creek Indian and one of the plaintiffs in the suit, told the Advertiser last September that watching his hair fall to the floor during a mandated haircut in prison led him to feel that “most of me was laying on the floor.”
“Hair is closely connected to a Native American’s innermost being and identity, and has profound religious significance for all tribes,” Montgomery attorney Mark Sabel, representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement Thursday. “Hair constitutes part of one’s identity as an Indian person, and is a cornerstone element in Native American religious practice.”
According to RLUIPA, states can restrict an inmate’s religious liberty only when it is necessary to achieve a compelling government interest. Courts routinely find maintaining security in a prison is a compelling interest under RLUIPA, but often agree with inmates that specific prison rules are not required to achieve that goal. Here, central to the state’s argument is that it is not required by RLUIPA to offer an accommodation just because other states may.
