Ohio inmate's religious-liberty suit gets go-ahead

The Associated Press

08.31.99

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CINCINNATI — A federal judge has ruled that Ohio prison officials didn't give specific justification for forcing a prisoner to shave his beard and sideburns in what the prisoner says was a violation of his Orthodox Jewish faith.

"The law requires some basis in actual fact for the justifications posed by prison officials, not merely unsupported generalities," U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott wrote in her ruling last week.

Dlott rejected the state's request to dismiss the lawsuit filed by prisoner Hbrandon L. Flagner.

The state was considering whether to appeal the judge's ruling, said assistant attorney general Marianne Pressman. Otherwise, Dlott would schedule Flagner's lawsuit for trial.

Ohio's prison regulations require inmates to keep facial hair neatly trimmed, within a half inch of the skin, so that they cannot hide weapons or other illegal items, Pressman said. Flagner was treated no differently than other prisoners, she said.

Flagner, 47, confined in the Ross Correctional Institution, has been in the state prison system since January 1986 on his Cuyahoga County convictions for aggravated murder and kidnapping. He previously was in prison from 1978 to 1980 on a Lorain County conviction for breaking and entering.

He said he was forced to shave while imprisoned in 1996 at Lebanon Correctional Institution and 1998 in Madison Correctional Institution. Flagner says that cutting his sideburns or beard violates his religious beliefs.

The judge ruled that state officials failed to show that prison concerns overwhelmed Flagner's freedom to practice his religion.

"We're cheered by the judge's decision," said Michael J. O'Hara, Flagner's attorney. "We got our chance for a jury and that was Mr. Flagner's hope from the outset."

Update

Federal appeals panel: Jewish inmate can sue Ohio over forced shaving
Judges say prisoner presented enough evidence about officials’ on-again, off-again attitude toward cutting his beard that case should go to trial.  02.26.01