Miscellaneous

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Georgia Supremes Rule on Dreads

By Anne Skove, Esq.

It's an ongoing battle reminiscent of Catholic schoolchildren and administrators who play cat and mouse with the rules. Here's how it works: the administration makes a rule; their subjects try to find a way around it.

No long hair? OK, what about shaved heads?

Ties required? Bring on that 80s fixture, the skinny piano tie!

Sometimes the loophole hunt is just for kicks. Other times it's a way to fight the power. Every so often you see a good case. Thus, Catholic lawyers and jailhouse lawyers proliferate!

The most recent example comes from Georgia, where inmate Rashad Price argued that the prison should not have cut his hair. Price claims his dreadlocks were grown for religious reasons.

The state's highest court held that the court below should have dismissed the case, because Price's paperwork challenging the haircut was improper.

See Ga. Supreme Court Reverses Inmate Hair Ruling, AP, Ledger-Enquirer (March 10, 2008).

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on March 10, 2008 (boomark / email).