US court rules against man whose dreadlocks were cut off in prison

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The US Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a devout Rastafarian whose knee-length dreadlocks were forcibly shorn in jail cannot sue state prison officials for damages.

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Damon Landor had sought permission to sue individual officials of the Louisiana Department of Corrections for monetary damages for violating his religious rights.

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Louisiana acknowledged that the treatment of Landor by prison guards was “antithetical to religious freedom” and amended its prison grooming policy.

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But the southern US state insists that federal law does not permit monetary damages against a state official sued in an individual capacity.

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The Supreme Court agreed in a 6-3 ruling. The three liberal justices on the court dissented.

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Landor, who had been growing his hair for nearly two decades, was serving the final three weeks of a five-month sentence for drug possession in 2020 when his hair was cut.

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He presented prison guards with a copy of a 2017 court ruling stating that Rastafarians should be allowed to keep their dreadlocks in line with their religious beliefs.

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A prison guard threw the document away and Landor was handcuffed to a chair and had his head shaved, according to court records.

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An appeals court condemned Landor’s “egregious” treatment but ruled that he was not eligible to sue individual prison officials for damages.

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Rastafarians let their hair grow, typically in dreadlocks, as part of their beliefs in the religion, which originated in Jamaica and was popularized by the late reggae singer Bob Marley.

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AFP

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