Long-haired inmates moved to max security

[Flea]

Sorry, but this sounds completely screwy to me.

Rastafarian and other Virginia inmates who refuse to cut their hair have been moved to a maximum security prison as corrections officials continue trying to get them to comply with the state's grooming policy.
In November, the Department of Corrections moved more than 30 prisoners who were out of compliance with the policy to Keen Mountain Correctional Center. Several of the inmates had spent more than a decade in solitary confinement for refusing to cut their hair.
Department spokesman Larry Traylor says the inmates have been moved to Wallens Ridge State Prison in far southwest Virginia.
The inmates are allowed increased privileges for working through a program, with the ultimate goal of cutting their hair or beards. Some have chosen instead to return to segregation.

In my extremely limited understanding of prison religion, there is a list of "recognized" religions that merit official accommodation. It may be that Rastafarianism doesn't make the list, but isn't a solid relationship with one's Higher Power supposed to be a gold mine for rehabilitation? I'd be curious to know more about the "other inmates" who refuse to cut their hair - are they Sikhs perhaps? Or some other religious denomination not officially sanctioned by the prison system? If these guys feel strongly enough about it to volunteer for a decade in solitary confinement it can't be just about the fashion statement or exploiting a legal loophole.

I know that rules are rules, especially in such a highly structured environment. But in a time when many prison systems around the country are releasing inmates for lack of resources why are they tying up bed space intended for the higher risk prisoners? If they weren't incarcerated in maximum security in the first place it would seem that they're lower risk, so wouldn't it make more sense to resolve the issue another way?

More to the point, if these presumably lower-risk inmates are displacing the murderers et al, where do these higher-risk people go? And for the long-haired inmates taking up space in solitary, what happens when other inmates need to be punished for something real like assaulting a guard and they have no place to use for that? I can't imagine they get to trade places with the Rastas at Club Fed.

Or for that matter, why don't they just hold the Rastas down and clip them by force? I'm not advocating it, but it seems a lot simpler than tying up all these resources. The whole thing seems like a totally disproportionate response to a simple problem.

Edit: When I went back and clicked on the above link again, for some reason it brought up a longer story that answered some of my questions. But not all of them. ;-)

 

[David43515]

"The department says the grooming policy is needed to prevent inmates from hiding weapons and drugs in their long hair or beards, and also to keep them from quickly changing their appearance if they escape."

I kind of figured it was something like this. But the restrictions they place on these guys do seem pretty over the top. No face to face visits with family? Restricted access to hygine items? And if they can shave their heads on entry, why can`t they force a haircut? (I`m not in favor of it, it just seems like an odd double standard.)

 

[MA-Caver]

If for the purposes of security (hiding weapons or drugs) then I can understand the policy... but because they want them to look neat? Yeah okay... make 'em all Ted Bundies.
Kinda ridiculous if you ask me. The length of a person's hair (or lack of it) doesn't (always necessarily) dictate the type of person they are IMO...

 

[LuckyKBoxer]

screw them they are prisoners.
drug their food or drink with a tranquilizer and shave away.
I would have no problems with that.
I am frankly quite sick of the prisoners being catered to as it is.
quit giving them advanced medical care, quit making their lives comfortable, put them to hard labor, make them live under the strictest possible rulesets, and if they dont comply then toss them in a 5 by 5 cell for however long it takes to break them.
I have no pity or care as to their well being.
they should have thought about that before they did their crimes.

 

[Ken Morgan]

Can't your TSA check them, they seem to be doing so well.......

 

[ballen0351]

I kind of figured it was something like this. But the restrictions they place on these guys do seem pretty over the top. No face to face visits with family? Restricted access to hygine items?

If the don't like the restrictions maybe they should stop breaking the law.

 

[Flea]

screw them they are prisoners.
drug their food or drink with a tranquilizer and shave away.
I would have no problems with that.
I am frankly quite sick of the prisoners being catered to as it is.
quit giving them advanced medical care, quit making their lives comfortable, put them to hard labor, make them live under the strictest possible rulesets, and if they dont comply then toss them in a 5 by 5 cell for however long it takes to break them.
I have no pity or care as to their well being.
they should have thought about that before they did their crimes.

Um. That's not really what I was asking ... :uhohh:

 

[Flea]

And if they can shave their heads on entry, why can`t they force a haircut? (I`m not in favor of it, it just seems like an odd double standard.)

Maybe there's some kind of impasse between two completely different sets of protocol, set out by two radically different agencies. The inmates' lives are held in the balance over a decision that may not even have anything to do with hair itself, but simply as a manifestation of a bureaucratic turf war.

My next novel! :idea: