ACLU of Virginia case challenging prison grooming policy can now proceed.
The United States Supreme Court today ruled that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act does not violate separation of church and state. The decision overturns a ruling by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Ohio, which earlier held that RLUIPA goes too far, offering so much protection for prisoner’s religious practices that it is tantamount to the government advancing religion.
An ACLU of Virginia RLUIPA case that has been held in abeyance for two years while courts argued over constitutionality of the law will now proceed. That case, McRae v. Johnson, challenges a Virginia Department of Corrections policy requiring inmates to be clean shaven and keep their hair short. The ACLU represents Muslim and Rastafarian inmates who have religious objections to cutting their hair or shaving their beards. Some of the ACLU’s clients have been placed in segregation, lost work opportunities and even lost “good time” that could earn them an early release.
“This is an important victory for those who are incarcerated in Virginia’s prisons and across the nation,” said ACLU of Virginia executive director Kent Willis. “They can now be assured that their religious rights will not be taken away without a very good reason.”
“Furthermore, it will allow us finally to move forward with our case challenging the discriminatory grooming policies of the Virginia Department of Corrections.”
In 2003, in a different case, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond found that RLUIPA did not advance religion but merely relieved the burden imprisonment places on religious practices. That case involved the right of qualified prisoners to have kosher meals. It too was held up while the constitutionality of RLUIPA was being reviewed.
Passed by Congress in 2000, RLUIPA prohibits state prisons and other institutions that receive federal funds from interfering with the right of inmates to practice their religion, unless the institution can cite a security or similarly important reason for the prohibition.
Steven Rosenfield of Charlottesville and ACLU of Virginia legal director Rebecca K. Glenberg represent the Virginia inmates in McRae v. Johnson.
ACLU of Virginia Contacts: Kent Willis, Executive Director Rebecca Glenberg, Legal Director 804-644-8022
