By Brian Lyman
Montgomery Advertiser
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The U.S. Supreme Court could be the next step for a group of plaintiffs who say Native American inmates in the Alabama Department of Corrections have a religious right to long hair.
Plaintiffs for the inmates are preparing to file a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court after the full 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decided on Nov. 19 against review of an earlier decision upholding the DOC’s current policies on hair length.
In August, a three-judge panel said that federal law allowed the department to make a “reasoned assessment” of its safety policies. The DOC has argued that hair length is a safety issue, and that allowing inmates to have long hair could make it easier for escaped inmates to change their appearance.
“The case has been before the Eleventh Circuit three times, and ADOC has won on each occasion, including two trials that DOC won,” ADOC spokesman Brian Corbett said in a statement. “The Department is confident that the District Court’s ruling and the Eleventh Circuit’s affirmation of it will withstand any further legal challenges.”
The plaintiffs, a group of current and former inmates who practice Native American religions, argue that long hair is a foundation of their faith, and that the 11th Circuit’s decision contradicts decisions in other federal circuits that have allowed inmates to wear their hair long for religious purposes.
Mark Sabel, an attorney representing the plaintiffs in the case, said they are preparing the petition.
“It’s a matter of a fair amount of religious liberty,” Sabel said. “Alabama has deviated from the accepted standard pervasive practice of most prison systems.”
According to the plaintiffs, 38 states and the federal Bureau of Prisons all allow Native American inmates to wear their hair long. In testimony in the case, some inmates have said there would be “eternal consequences” for them should they die with their hair cut short.
The hair dispute is part of a larger lawsuit that dates back to 1993 over Native American religious practices in Alabama prisons. As the lawsuit has moved forward, DOC has opened the door to a number of Native American religious practices; however, the hair issue remains a sticking point.
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled an Arkansas inmate practicing Islam could keep a short beard while he appeals a decision that requires him to cut it. The court has yet to decidewhether to hear that case.
The appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court must be filed by Feb. 6.
“There’s a clear split in the circuit courts of appeal,” Sabel said. “Those are the type of cases the Supreme Court generally attempts to resolve, particularly when an ... issue like religious liberty hangs in the balance.”
Copyright 2013 the Montgomery Advertiser