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VA: Rastafarian prisoners in segregation for nearly 10 years

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

Rastafarian inmates in segregation for nearly 10 years Tue Dec 8, 2009 RICHMOND, Va. -- Bill Clinton was president when a handful of Virginia prisoners entered segregation cells rather than cut their hair. The inmates, Rastafarians, complain the Department of Corrections' grooming policy of Dec. 15, 1999, violates their religion. Followers of the Rastafari movement let their hair grow in dreadlocks and let their beards grow. Among other things, the policy requires that male inmates' hair be cut above the shirt collar and around the ears for security and health reasons. Next week marks a decade that at least eight of them have been confined alone in small cells for refusing to comply -- allowed out for three showers and five hour long recreation periods a week...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on December 09, 2009 (boomark / email).