United States advocacy teams say the ‘frequent sense’ invoice would assist shield incarcerated folks’s proper to spiritual freedom and expression.
Los Angeles, California, the US – Sajad Shakoor confronted a painful alternative whereas incarcerated at California’s Nice Valley State Jail in 2002: take away his chitrali cap — a core a part of his identification as a Muslim of Pakistani heritage — or find yourself in a solitary confinement cell recognized informally as “the opening”.
As a way to adjust to jail rules, Shakoor had already made the troublesome determination to shave his beard. Different Muslims, a lot of whom think about rising lengthy beards to be a non secular obligation, had refused to take action and been despatched to solitary.
For Shakoor, being pressured to take away the spiritual headwear was one step too far.
“It was dehumanising and demeaning shaving my beard,” he instructed Al Jazeera. “Now they had been telling me I couldn’t put on my cap? That’s the place I drew the road.”
Greater than 20 years after the traumatic incident, Shakoor — who spent seven days in a solitary cell concerning the measurement of a parking house for refusing to take away his cap — says he hopes a just lately launched invoice within the California State Senate will assist others keep away from related experiences.
“Think about going to solitary confinement over a beard or a kufi,” mentioned Shakoor, utilizing a time period for an additional fashion of cap worn by Muslim males. “They made examples of us.”
‘Commonsense coverage’
The proposed laws, formally generally known as SB 309, would create uniform requirements to manipulate spiritual grooming and headwear all through California’s detention amenities, together with these run by non-public contractors.
The invoice would additionally create tips for conducting safety searches of people sporting spiritual clothes, permitting the search to be carried out in a non-public space, with people provided a garment supplied by the ability.
Launched by State Senator David Cortese this month, the invoice has picked up assist from religion and civil rights teams such because the California department of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Tayba Basis, a nonprofit that works with households impacted by incarceration.
“It’s a elementary tenet of many religions to put on sure clothes,” Cortese instructed Al Jazeera. “We consider it’s a matter of civil rights and spiritual freedom. Proper now there’s no uniformity throughout the state.”
The California Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), the company tasked with overseeing 34 state-run jail amenities, instructed Al Jazeera that it doesn't touch upon pending laws.
However a CDCR spokesperson mentioned in an e mail that the division recognises an “incarcerated individual’s freedom of faith” and has developed a “Spiritual Private Property Matrix” (PDF) that covers grooming and headwear in state prisons.
Nonetheless, whereas CDCR oversees the state system, it doesn't have jurisdiction over county jails, which set their very own insurance policies. The result's a patchwork of requirements that may change from one facility to a different, CAIR-California fellow Leena Sabagh instructed Al Jazeera.
“CAIR has represented a number of Muslim ladies who had their hijabs forcibly eliminated,” Sabagh mentioned. “In some instances, the dearth of steerage has created confusion amongst guards making an attempt to hold out procedures like a safety search.”
Sabagh mentioned that these lawsuits normally finish within the county agreeing to implement a transparent coverage on spiritual apparel and grooming, one thing she hopes a statewide normal would assist repair. “It makes extra sense to strategy this at a state degree, as an alternative of going county by county,” she mentioned.
“Whether or not you’re a Muslim sporting a hijab, a Sikh sporting a turban, [or] a Jew sporting a yarmulke, these clothes are an important a part of an individual’s identification,” Sabagh added. “This can be a commonsense coverage that may profit folks from all totally different religion teams.”
The invoice — launched earlier this month and at present within the committee on public security — would wish to move within the State Senate and the State Meeting, then win the signature of California Governor Gavin Newsom, to grow to be regulation.
Cortese, the California state senator who launched the invoice, mentioned that, at the least thus far, no person has voiced opposition to the proposed laws. He famous that he reached out to regulation enforcement teams for his or her insights when crafting the invoice.
“In fact you must stability safety considerations,” he mentioned. “We see this as a chance to export regulation enforcement greatest practices.”
The California Correctional Peace Officers Affiliation (CCPOA), a corrections officers’ labour union, didn't reply to an e mail from Al Jazeera requesting remark in time for publication.
However in a assertion shared by Cortese’s workplace on February 6, Antonio Cueva — the vp of the Santa Clara County Correctional Peace Officers Affiliation, a neighborhood group — mentioned his organisation “believes within the Structure of the USA and its provisions which permit for freedom of faith”.
“We stand with our CAIR pals to make sure these freedoms are assured and guarded,” Cueva mentioned.
Holding on to religion
In the end, supporters of the invoice say they hope the laws will permit extra incarcerated folks to proudly categorical their spiritual beliefs, which can assist stave off the hopelessness many face when behind bars.
“In the event you meet somebody who was given a life sentence once they had been 17 years previous, and has spent greater than 20 years imprisoned, how do you make sense of that? How do you make which means out of your life?” requested Rami Nsour, co-founder of the Tayba Basis.
“Faith can provide folks hope, a way of group and even safety.”
Shakoor was initially given a life sentence below California’s punitive “three strikes” regulation that meted out harsher sentences for individuals who had been convicted of quite a few crimes. The regulation has since been reformed, and Shakoor was launched in 2013 after he grew to become eligible for parole, as a result of his “third strike” was not a severe or violent offence.
However there was a interval when Shakoor believed he would spend the remainder of his life in jail. He credit his Muslim religion with serving to him persevere.
“Faith saved me from a doom-and-gloom angle about spending my life in jail that lots of people get trapped in,” he instructed Al Jazeera. “My religion was every part to me.”
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