The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled an eighth-inch beard insufficient to conceal contraband or identity.
William Couch, a Virginia state prisoner and Sunni Muslim since his conviction in 1990, first argued that the law barring long hair and beards was a violation of his religious commitment in 2011.
U.S. District Judge Samuel G. Wilson of Harrisonburg, Va. ruled in favor of the Virginia Department of Corrections, which originally instituted the ban citing health and security reasons in 1999.
For more than a decade, Rastafarian and other Muslim inmates have been held in segregated cells for refusing to cut their hair on religious grounds.
After an unsuccessful attempt in District Court, Couch’s attorney, Jeffrey Fogel, filed an appeal citing his client’s rights under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.The federal appeals court said in its ruling that the government must use “the least restrictive means” to guarantee security and protect prisoners’ religious rights.
