Jail urged to allow Muslim headscarves

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Muslim civil rights group is calling on St. Louis County to revise its policy that requires female Muslim inmates to remove religious headscarves, but the director of the jail said the headdress can pose a security risk.

Faizan Syed, director of the St. Louis chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Tuesday that a 23-year-old Ballwin woman was jailed for about seven hours in January because of an unpaid traffic ticket. A jail officer ordered her to remove her traditional Islamic headdress, known as a hijab.

The woman refused because the Islamic religion forbids women from exposing their head or neck to men outside their immediate family. Syed said the female officer snatched the hijab from the woman’s head in front of men — jail employees and male inmates. She spent the rest of her time in jail without the hijab.

“She was very emotionally distraught,” Syed said. “For a Muslim woman, it’s the equivalent to having her clothes removed in public by somebody else.”

St. Louis County Justice Services director Herb Bernsen said jail policy forbids inmates from wearing anything on his or her head for security reasons, mostly out of concern that a weapon could be hidden in the scarf.

“We have to be concerned about security first,” he said.

Syed said there are ways to ensure security without compromising a woman’s religious beliefs. He said that in some jails, a woman is taken to a private room, removes the headscarf in the presence of a female jailer and is given a jail-issued head covering. As for mug shots, he said some jails take two photos — one with the head covering to be used publicly and one without for internal use only.

Bernsen said he has not been contacted by the council, but he is open to dialogue. He said he is also checking with jails around the country to see how they handle the issue.

Courts have ruled on both sides of the argument.

In October, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a California Muslim woman’s right to sue Orange County because its jailers forced her to remove the hijab.

In Minnesota last year, Amina Farah Ali was jailed after being convicted of conspiring to funnel money to terrorists with al-Shabab in Somalia. She refused to leave her jail cell in protest of a ban on headwear at the Sherburne County Jail. She was later moved to another jail where the head covering was permitted.

Syed said the council is willing to work with corrections officers better understand Islam and Muslims. He said, for now, the Ballwin woman is not considering a lawsuit, but wants the St. Louis County policy changed. She also wants an apology, he said.

More like this story

John 1 year, 2 months ago

NO! If they want to have a Queran, okay. But NO SPECIAL CLOTHING.

asb 1 year, 2 months ago

What's the problem here John, style concious? No tattoos? No crosses either? Not really sure what the issue would be unless it's a concern about hiding something under the scarf. What would you hide under a scarf that couldn't be better hidden under a jumpsuit? I say YES, let them wear crosses and scarves!

spelchek 1 year, 2 months ago

What's the problem here asb, oblivious to safety issues? Why would you want to give anyone affiliated with the religion of tolerance the tools and resources to end their own lives? Do you not like Muslims? I smell a hidden agenda.

asb 1 year, 2 months ago

Safety issues were covered in the article; discreet female searches and approved head gear. I smell agenda also, but yours isn't very well hidden.

spelchek 1 year, 2 months ago

Graceful, of course asb sees the issue but refuses to ignore common sense over political correctness. asb has illustrated their contempt for white Christians time and time again and if asb doesn't see the liability of letting a prisoner have a scarf in a prison cell then asb is either that ignorant of suicide or can't convey an honest intellectual thought. Our agenda is safety over political correctness, asb's is the other way around. asb is willing to compromise a human life over not looking like a bigot or racist to their progressive friends.

asb 1 year, 2 months ago

My only problem with Christianity is when it is forced on me, read my posts more carefully. I respect all religions, I just don't accept them as mine. And white? Really? Talk about an agenda . . .

JCLifer 1 year, 2 months ago

Then go home. This is a Christian country. If you cannot show TOLERANCE to our country's customs, rules, and norms, then you are the one with the problem, and you are the one who needs to deal with it.

asb 1 year, 2 months ago

It is a culturally Christian majority country, with millions of us non-Christians. You must, by the constitution and basic morality, tolerate us. I go home every afternoon, like now.

JMO 1 year, 2 months ago

A strip torn off a sheet, a shirt or for that matter a woman's bra is as dangerous as the scarf. If someone wants to do away with themselves, they'll find a way. But I have no problem with them requiring the inmates to wear only prison approved headwear, more for security - because yes, it is easier to hide something in a loose scarf - and for identification purposes. No burqa's allowed. But orthodox Jews should be allowed their yamakas and some Christian sects don't allow women to wear pants, are we forcing that on them?

asb 1 year, 2 months ago

I repeat, as noted in the article the issue isn't the scarf, it's the violation of disrobing in front of men. Alternate headgear is acceptable to Islam, and in female company only is a rule that can be accomodated.

spelchek 1 year, 2 months ago

"The woman refused because the Islamic religion forbids women from exposing their head or neck to men outside their immediate family." = tolerance

asb 1 year, 2 months ago

And Christianity has never held women in anything resembling bondage or subserviance? particularly in matters of sex, marriage, exposure both social and physical? Modern Christians maybe not so much, but then some would have it that modern Christians really aren't, and I don't mean modern.

spelchek 1 year, 2 months ago

Your lack of concern for this woman's well being is troublesome. Furthermore, I remember you commenting in favor of making religious institutions pay for birth control regardless of their beliefs. Now, you seem down with favoring religious beliefs. Which is it?

asb 1 year, 2 months ago

I'm in favor of protecting the socially acceptable religious and personal freedoms and beliefs of people; not churches, schools, hospitals or corporations. My properly regulated insuror, not my employer, should set coverage rules, independent of somebody else's religious bias. An employer denying my birth control is like denying me the right to have a CC permit, something that the Missouri legislature is dealing with at least :)

spelchek 1 year, 1 month ago

"I'm in favor of protecting the socially acceptable religious and personal freedoms and beliefs of people; not churches, schools, hospitals or corporations." -- This makes zero sense. Who do you think goes to church? People, and it is the church that they get their beliefs from. They are the same. Who defines "socially acceptable"? You? The freedoms and beliefs of this country are in our constitution. We don't need another progressive thinking they know better than the rest of us defining our socially acceptable freedoms and beliefs.

asb 1 year, 2 months ago

All the religions originating in the middle east place women below men in many ways, the new testament included. Christ's teachings are allowed in schools, as long as it's in a religion class that also discusses other religions and doesn't insist to me that there's only one correct dogma. Christ was not the only teacher of morality; most moral codes he taught were already in place for over a thousand year in several cultures. His unique teaching was of an eternal afterlife available only through him.

JMO 1 year, 2 months ago

If parent's want their children to learn Christianity, they should take them or church or send them to a private school. That is where religious instruction belongs.

asb 1 year, 2 months ago

Teaching Christianity as the true religion in public schools, including prayer and other ritual is forbidden under any reasonable interpretation of the Constitution. There has been ample due process, all the way to the Supreme Court. Amend the Constitution if you need to establish an american theocracy, and good luck with that war.

soxfan 1 year, 2 months ago

wher does it state this don l

JCLifer 1 year, 2 months ago

Guess if they don't like how we do things in our country they should just go back home.

Like, would any of us have the guts to demand changes to laws if we lived in other countries? What arrogance these people have!

asb 1 year, 2 months ago

So you're pretty sure all Muslims are foreigners? Or maybe some crazy black people in bow ties too? We don't demand changes, we invade, impose, pay off, and sometimes leave.

JCLifer 1 year, 2 months ago

I don't recall reading about any of them on the Mayflower or any of them signing the Declaration of Independence. The ship that brought them here can take them home.

JMO 1 year, 2 months ago

Now really...you can trace YOUR ancestors back to the Mayflower? Are you a direct descendant of one of the signors of the Declaration of Independence? I don’t know about you, but my great grandfather on both sides came sometime in the 1800’s. Not sure about the grandma’s. Guess I’m just not a “real” American either? Of course, I'm a white protestant, so that probably makes a difference.

For the record, I agree with the removal of the headscarves and only approved headwear being allowed. I take exception with the bigotry.

JCLifer 1 year, 2 months ago

Nope, but my ancestors were happy here. They were fine with learning the language and the customs and obeying the rules here. Big difference. No bigotry here, just common courtesy. Do you go to a friend's house for dinner and demand that they redecorate their house to meet your wishes?

Alternatively, they can get more and more of their friends to come here, make lots of babies, and soon they can be the majority that makes the rules.

JMO 1 year, 2 months ago

If a jail or prison is your house, you have bigger problems than can be addressed here. But a public facility has to observe the rights of all the citizens...not just the majority.

JCLifer 1 year, 2 months ago

Tell that to homosexuals...

JMO 1 year, 2 months ago

I don't have to. They are already trying to get equal rights.

JCLifer 1 year, 2 months ago

My point exactly. Why is it OK to discriminate based on God-created sexual orientation, but not on religion, especially when the other religion wants us dead?

JMO 1 year, 2 months ago

It's NOT okay to discriminate either way. Hence, the complaints from those being discriminated against.

JCLifer 1 year, 2 months ago

If she would have paid her parking ticket in the first place, she wouldn't be in jail. If she hadn't parked illegally, she wouldnt have gotten a parking ticket.

What happened to PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY?

Mr_Grimm 1 year, 2 months ago

has nothing to do with religion. all people incarcerated are treated the same. NOTHING should be allowed in facilities except what is issued. if they want to purchase a "molded" or safety head dress one should be allowed to be ordered from commissary. BUT allowing anything inside is a danger to other inmates and staff. firm, FAIR, and consistent is what we were told.

soxfan 1 year, 2 months ago

how come the men don't have to cover their heads or do they brain wash the women only don l

asb 1 year, 2 months ago

The basic theory is that uncovered women are too tempting as sexual targets. It protects them and the honor of the men of the family. The idea presumes an inability to control one's self in the presence of female sexuality. The Christians have terms like brazen regarding womens' dress to describe the same problem.

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