ElNono
01-20-2015, 02:47 PM
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously for a Muslim prisoner Tuesday, deciding he has a religious-freedom right to grow a half-inch beard.
The justices said prison authorities in Arkansas had no convincing reason for contending that Gregory Holt's neatly trimmed half-inch beard would represent a danger.
It is "almost preposterous to think that you could hide" a dangerous weapon in such a beard, a magistrate commented when the case was first heard.
The Arkansas prison system's no-beard policy was unusual. The "vast majority" of states and federal prisons permit inmates to grow 1/2-inch beards for religious or other reasons, said Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-supreme-court-rules-for-muslim-prisoner-and-religious-freedom-20150120-story.html
The justices said prison authorities in Arkansas had no convincing reason for contending that Gregory Holt's neatly trimmed half-inch beard would represent a danger.
It is "almost preposterous to think that you could hide" a dangerous weapon in such a beard, a magistrate commented when the case was first heard.
The Arkansas prison system's no-beard policy was unusual. The "vast majority" of states and federal prisons permit inmates to grow 1/2-inch beards for religious or other reasons, said Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-supreme-court-rules-for-muslim-prisoner-and-religious-freedom-20150120-story.html