Latest news with #DamonLandor
South China Morning Post
3 hours ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Top US court takes case of Rastafarian whose hair was cut in prison
The US Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear the case of a devout Rastafarian whose knee-length dreadlocks were forcibly cut while he was in prison in the southern state of Louisiana. Advertisement Damon Landor is seeking permission to sue individual officials of the Louisiana Department of Corrections for monetary damages for violating his religious rights. 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. Landor 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. A prison guard threw the document away and Landor was handcuffed to a chair and had his head shaved, according to court records. Advertisement An appeal court condemned Landor's 'egregious' treatment but ruled that he is not eligible to sue individual prison officials for damages.
NZ Herald
4 hours ago
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Top US court takes case of Rastafarian whose hair was cut in prison
The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of a devout Rastafarian whose knee-length dreadlocks were forcibly shorn while he was in prison in the southern state of Louisiana. Damon Landor is seeking permission to sue individual officials of the Louisiana Department of Corrections for monetary damages for
France 24
7 hours ago
- Politics
- France 24
Top US court takes case of Rastafarian whose hair was cut in prison
Damon Landor is seeking permission to sue individual officials of the Louisiana Department of Corrections for monetary damages for violating his religious rights. 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. Landor 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. A prison guard threw the document away and Landor was handcuffed to a chair and had his head shaved, according to court records. An appeals court condemned Landor's "egregious" treatment but ruled that he is not eligible to sue individual prison officials for damages. Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill, in a brief submitted to the Supreme Court, acknowledged that the treatment of Landor by prison guards was "antithetical to religious freedom." "The State has amended its prison grooming policy to ensure that nothing like Petitioner's alleged experience can occur," Murrill said. But federal law does not permit "money damages against a state official sued in his individual capacity," she added. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case during its next term, which begins in October. 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.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Supreme Court takes up religious claim by Rastafarian whose dreadlocks were cut by prison officials
WASHINGTON — Taking up a new religious rights case, the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to weigh a claim for damages brought by a devout Rastafarian whose dreadlocks were cut by Louisiana prison officials against his wishes. At the time of the incident in 2020, Damon Landor had kept a religious vow not to cut his hair for almost 20 years. Landor had served all but three weeks of his five-month sentence imposed for a drug-related criminal conviction in Louisiana when he was transferred to the Raymond Laborde Correction Center. He was holding a copy of a court ruling that made it clear that practicing Rastafarians should be given a religious accommodation allowing them to keep their dreadlocks. But a prison officer dismissed his concerns and Landor was handcuffed to a chair while two officers shaved his head. Upon his release, Landor filed a lawsuit raising various claims, including the one at issue at the Supreme Court, which he brought under a federal law called the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. At issue is whether people who sue under that statute can win money damages. Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill said in court papers that the state does not contest that Landor was mistreated and noted that the prison system has already changed its grooming policy to ensure that other Rastafarian prisoners do not face similar situations. But she contests whether Landor can get get money damages for his claim. A federal judge and the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals both ruled in favor of the state, saying that money damages are not available. Landor's lawyer point to a 2020 Supreme Court ruling that allowed such damages in claims arising under a similar law called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The laws have "identical language," they said in court papers. The court will hear oral arguments and issue a ruling in the case in its next term, which starts in October and ends in June 2026. This article was originally published on
New York Times
8 hours ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Supreme Court to Hear Rastafarian Prisoner's Suit Over Shaved Dreadlocks
The Supreme Court said on Monday that it would decide whether a Rastafarian man may sue prison guards in Louisiana who shaved off his dreadlocks in seeming violation of an appeals court's ruling about how the state must treat members of his faith. The case concerns Damon Landor, whose faith requires him to let his hair grow long. When he started a five-month prison term for drug possession in Louisiana in 2020, his dreadlocks fell nearly to his knees. Mr. Landor was wary of the state's prison system, according to a lawsuit he later filed, and he kept a copy of a 2017 judicial decision with him. That ruling, from a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, said that Rastafarian inmates in Louisiana must be allowed to keep their dreadlocks under a 2000 federal law protecting prisoners' religious freedom. The first four months of Mr. Landor's incarceration were uneventful. Then he was transferred to the Raymond Laborde Correctional Center in Cottonport, La. According to his lawsuit, he presented a copy of the 2017 decision to a guard, who threw it in the trash. After consulting the warden, two guards handcuffed Mr. Landor to a chair, held him down and shaved his head to the scalp. 'When I was strapped down and shaved, it felt like I was raped,' Mr. Landor said in a statement last year. 'And the guards, they just didn't care. They will treat you any kind of way. They knew better than to cut my hair, but they did it anyway.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
