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Posted: 12:37 PM Jun 30, 2010
Dozens of VA Inmates Isolated Because of Hair
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Nearly 50 Virginia prisoners are being held in perpetual isolation because they refuse to cut their hair.
Reporter: DENA POTTER - Associated Press Writer |
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5 Comments 
Nearly 50 Virginia prisoners are being held in perpetual isolation because they refuse to cut their hair.
Following an Associated Press story about ten Rastafarian inmates who had been in segregation for ten years for ignoring the state's grooming policy, Secretary of Public Safety Marla Decker ordered a count of the inmates who were being held in isolation because of the policy.
The review found 48 inmates were being held in segregation for refusing to follow the policy, which calls for hair to be kept above the shirt collar and bans beards. Of those, 13 were Rastafarians, who view growing their hair as a tenet of their religion.
Officials say the review does not mean the policy will change. Civil rights and religious advocates say it violates the prisoners' freedom to worship.
©2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Latest Comments
SHAVE THEIR HEADS & MAKE THEM WEAR PINK UNDERWARE AND FLIP FLOPS THAT'S IT! Prisioners make me sick with their demands. Where was their religion when they were committing the crime. "Oh, it's just hair.." anonymous YOU ARE THE PROBLEM!
Wow. It's just hair. To keep someone in isolation because they wouldn't cut their hair is ridiculous!!
Cutting their hair violates their religious rights? They are prisoners, they committed a crime, just how religious can they be.
