The right to a beard
Virginia’s prison grooming policy shaved religious rights.
Virginia prison officials might be tempted to think lifer William R. Couch’s religious calling is to sue them since he’s done it so many times. Actually, he’s a Sunni Muslim who professes that his religion requires him to grow a beard — a practice the Virginia Department of Corrections banned with a 1999 grooming policy.
September 18, 2012 - 7:01 AM
Criminals.
That is asinine. He should be shaved clean every day, forcibly if need be.
Being in jail means NOT BEING FREE! Our Constitution and Bill of Rights do not require a library in a federal prison…much less the state prisons. Prison should not be a fun place to live. Saw a news article about a man who bilked the public out of over $40 million dollars…he got 8 years…no mention of paying back the money (all spent)…that works out to $5 million a year. He has had his fun…his victims deserve better. Maybe he could teach other inmates the art of investing.
/sarcasm/
And shackles. Don’t forget the shackles. Anyone in prison deserves shackles. And only bread and water; moldy bread at that.
/end-sarcasm/
4. Scott, don’t you think it would be better to end rape, inmate on inmate and inmate on guard assault? Your liberal prison rules allow that to occur on a regular basis. Treat prisoners humanely…yes of course. Coddle and let them run the prison…absolutely not! American prisons are a joke, no discipline whatsoever.
#5 – “American prisons are a joke, no discipline whatsoever.”
Agreed, Jim.
My stupid nephew got out of prison after a two-year stretch last November. When asked about it, he said it was no big deal.
@5 JimW, sorry, I thought we were talking about beards. If you want to talk about prison rape or assaults behind the bars, we can (I’m against it by the way). But the justification was people hiding things in their beards and/or after escape, quickly changing their appearance.
If people are hiding things in their hair or could quickly change their appearance by shaving that hair off, do we force them to shave their heads?
If not, I put to you, the justification is just that. It’s not based in reality but in an attempt to show “who’s boss”. That may or may not rehabilitate a criminal. I’m not sure.
#2, luckily, the 8th Amendment to the Constitution trumps your Draconian view of the criminal justice system.
@5 JimW, I think prison issues deserve thoughtful consideration no matter which side you come down on. Here’s a story worth noting in my opinion.
http://www.thedailydolt.com/2012/09/14/sheriff-joe-arpaio-sued-after-diabetic-prisoner-is-denied-medication-dies-this-is-jail-get-over-it/
…Deborah Braillard, age 46, was arrested and booked on a minor drug possession charge in January of 2005. Despite being a diabetic, Braillard was not given insulin or any other medication or medical care for four full days, until she was eventually brought to the hospital in a diabetic coma. She died 18 days later of complications from diabetes, and her family’s civil suit against the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is now proceeding at trial….
Inmates testified that they begged officers to do something, but apparently prison guards in Maricopa County consider seizures, repeated vomiting, and pooping oneself simply part of the whole prison experience. Harper testified the prisoners alerted the guards to Braillard’s worsening condition, but the guards responded:
“’There’s nothing we can do about it. You just have to deal with it. This is jail. Get over it.”’….
Again, prisoners should be treated humanely, not coddled.
@10 JimW, agreed. Perhaps we just disagree a bit about what consistutes humane and what constitutes coddled.
Best wishes.
“shaved clean every day, forcibly if need be” -Comment by JimW — September 18, 2012 @ 9:45 am
“prisoners should be treated humanely” -Comment by JimW — September 19, 2012 @ 11:49 am
JimW, please explain how the forcible shaving a prisoner’s beard (violating the 8th Amendment to The Constitution) is “humane treatment” Otherwise, admit your complete contradiction of your earlier statement.
I do not believe in prisons being “for profit” and I do not believe in insulting true religious convictions.
Why do we have prisons? If our hope, as a society is to reform a criminal and have them come out a better person than they went in, we need libraries and schools and churches and counseling and work skill classes in every prison.
If our goal is only to punish, I am sure the return on that investment speaks for itself.
In this case and many other true nuisance lawsuits, I think the state should remind the prisoner that they probably already violated their religious tenets when they broke the laws of society and therefore they were the first to disrespect their faith.
A rule with a real and understandable reason should be followed until such time as you have “paid your debt to society” and are returned to it. If, as in this case, you are indeed a “lifer” and will never rejoin society, well your crime prevents you receiving any kind of special treatment until you have earned it IMO. Jailhouse conversions to mess with the prison rules is apparently a big game to some. Set up a system to allow people to earn their privileges. Which also teaches them patience and living within the rules. Since the “due process” of their conviction can rob them of some civil rights, why not religious rights as well?
12…If the rule is NO Beards…then the rule should be enforced.
#14 To paraphrase St. Thomas of Aquinas, an unjust rule is no rule at all.
#12, you still haven’t explained how your comment that prisoners be “shaved clean every day, forcibly if need be” can be reconciled with your later comment that “prisoners should be treated humanely.” That was the question; try to focus.
Once again I direct you to The Constitution of The United States of America and its 8th Amendment. That document can be found in any public library (you know, the building with all the books paid for with tax dollars…I realize you might have a hard time setting foot in one, as they are Socialist institutions, but you may want to try, for the sake of reading the document that is the foundation of our nation’s legal system).