I get a certain refreshed faith in the legal system whenever I see judges holding government officials accountable for truly meeting standards required by law, and especially when it comes to upholding prisoner rights. Hopefully it's not a rare event, but when a panel of judges takes seriously the claims of an incarcerated person, against the broad latitude prison officials have – and understandably so – in maintaining order, it's a nice reminder of the fairness of the review process when the system works.
In a decision published last week in Smith v. Ozmint, a 4th Circuit panel overturned a trial judge and ruled that a South Carolina prison had failed to meet its burden under RLUIPA to demonstrate a compelling governmental interest in its policy that resulted in a Rastafarian inmate being forcibly shaved despite his religious beliefs. It may, in fact, be a simple burden to meet in this case – I don't know and not arguing it should come out one way or another. But, the judges are saying, both to the prison lawyers and the judge below, the burden must be met properly.
To meet its burden to show a compelling interest, the SCDC’s "first job" is "to take the unremarkable step of providing an explanation for the policy’s restrictions that takes into account any institutional need to maintain good order,security, and discipline or to control costs." The only justification offered for the MSU grooming policy that is specific to the MSU is the policy itself: "Inmates in all levels of MSU will be required to wearclose-cropped haircuts for security reasons." This conclusory, one-sentence explanation does not, by itself, explain why the security interest is compelling.
The panel found an affadavit submitted here and relied upon by the lower court was actually prepared and provided in conjunction with another case and "not on point" to the facts here.
It's worth pointing out that the appeal seems to have been handled by Georgetown University Law School students. Kudos to them for helping to uphold the principles enacted in RLUIPA.
