Rastafarian Inmates No Longer Isolated Over Hair

RICHMOND, Va. – Many Rastafarians and other inmates in Virginia who have spent years in isolation for refusing to cut their hair were moved to a prison where they can live together, the state Corrections Department said Wednesday.

The Associated Press reported in June that 48 inmates were being held in segregation for ignoring the state's grooming policy, which bans beards and calls for hair to be kept above the shirt collar.

Department of Corrections spokesman Larry Traylor told AP that 31 inmates were transferred to Keen Mountain Correctional Center in southwestern Virginia late last week. The change was made to "better manage and utilize critical bed space" because the offenders will be held two to a cell instead of just one, Traylor said.

"While there remains a need for consequences when offenders choose not to adhere to VADOC policy, it was determined that offenders whose only offense is failure to comply with the grooming policy should be housed and managed separately from the general population but did not require housing in segregation," Traylor said.

Inmates will not have all the privileges of the prison's general population, but they are allowed to move inside their unit, more personal property, and educational and other programs.

Traylor said in June the policy was 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. At least 10 Rastafarian inmates, who view growing their hair unbridled, typically in dreadlocks as a tenet of their religion, have been in isolation since the policy was enacted in 1999.

Traylor said about 300 inmates identified themselves as Rastafarians, and only 13 are out of compliance with the grooming standards. Inmates will continue to have their heads shaved when they enter prison, Traylor said.

"It should not have taken eleven years, but DOC is finally realizing that there was never any need to punish these prisoners because of their religious beliefs," said Kent Willis, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia.

The Virginia ACLU represented a group of Rastafarian and Muslim inmates who unsuccessfully challenged the policy in 2003.

Virginia is among only about a dozen states, mostly in the South, that limit the length of inmates' hair and beards, according to the American Correctional Chaplains Association. A handful of those allow accommodations for those whose religious beliefs prohibit cutting their hair. There is no hair policy for federal prisoners.

"Being isolated in such a fashion for years, even while inside prison, is beyond the pale of a civilized society," said Evans Hopkins, a former prisoner, award-winning writer and close friend to Rastafarian inmate Ivan Sparks, who died last year while in segregation. "I hope the DOC will continue to try to work these men back into the general population, and prepare them for release."

Others who have fought against the policy for years were not as pleased.

"I'm going to remain hopefully optimistic that this may prove to be better, but I don't quite know yet," said Janet Taylor, whose Rastafarian name is "Queen Nzinga."

Taylor said some inmates who have spent 11 years in segregation may have problems adjusting to having a cellmate, and the time in isolation may have taken a mental toll on the inmates.

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Inmate Work At Horse Farm Suspended

Officials have suspended a program that provided inmate labor for a Howard County horse rescue farm, after complaints from neighbors and parents of young volunteers who said they weren't notified that prisoners would be at the site.

The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services rolled out the program at the Days End Farm Horse Rescue last week. But just days later, officials were apologizing for how the initiative was handled.

"I was definitely against it. Nobody knew about it," said Tammy Mirabile, who lives with her husband and four children, ages 2 to 11, less than a mile from the farm on Woodbine Road and learned about the initiative through a newspaper account last weekend. An inmate could flee, she said, into the rural and residential areas near the farm.
Days End is a temporary home to 70 abused and neglected horses, and has taken ailing equines from all over the state — including some of Baltimore's a-rab ponies that pull fruit carts downtown. About 1,200 people volunteer at the farm over the course of a year, said executive director Kathy Howe, including teenagers who help the operations of the nonprofit devoted to nursing the animals back to health and finding homes for them.

If the program resumes, "they're going to lose volunteers, rather than gain them," Mirabile said.

She and others registered their displeasure with state Del. Warren E. Miller, a Republican who represents the area.

"I got complaints from parents whose kids work there," Miller said. "They never told the parents. It's disconcerting."

Miller called his colleague, Del. Gail H. Bates, a Republican who serves on a subcommittee that oversees corrections spending, who in turn contacted Gary D. Maynard, secretary of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

Maynard, who was at the farm when the program was launched July 8, quickly agreed that he had erred in not informing the community or the legislators, Bates said.

The corrections chief suspended the program indefinitely Monday, though department officials point out that the four inmates who were the first participants were classified as nonviolent offenders.

"I am not saying it's a good or bad program. It was handled poorly," Bates said, adding that she too was not informed about the program's launch. "In Howard County, we keep the public informed."

Howe, the farm's executive director, said she thought the inmates, supervised by a correctional officer, would be a help in managing the 58-acre property, which runs on a $1.2 million yearly budget. The first group of inmates worked for two days last week before Maynard told her the program was on hold.

"There was never any communications between the volunteers and the inmates," she said. "They were a group very well supervised and were helping to maintain the land."

Howe acknowledged that the farm had not informed the farm's many volunteers or the community of the program, because it had not occurred to her anyone would be upset.
"I guess I really didn't anticipate it," she said.

She said the farm did not get complaints directly from the public, though she said several parents of young volunteers did call seeking information after seeing an article in some editions of The Baltimore Sun.

On their first day at work, inmate Paula Jordan, 41, of Baltimore, said she and the other three inmates said they were grateful for "a little taste of freedom" on the sprawling farm.

"I made wrong choices, and I'm paying the consequences, said the single mother of three, who worked in the hot sun cutting grass.

"Being here and knowing that I'm helping them for a good cause makes me feel like I'm giving something back," said inmate Whitley Neal, 22.

Rick Binetti, communications director for the corrections agency, agreed Wednesday that the department "probably did not do its due diligence" and that community and local officials should have been notified.

"It was probably a lack of foresight," he said, while praising the program for allowing inmates who have shown a commitment to changing their lives to work outside prison in different locations across the state.

The state corrections agency sends inmates to a variety of locations to provide labor. Recent efforts have included using inmates to help build Habitat for Humanity houses on the Eastern Shore, as well as planting orchards and other trees to help restore the Antietam battlefield.
Binetti said that the hope is that in time, after community concerns are addressed, the program can be restarted. The inmates involved have made progress on their educations and had shown good behavior.

"It was part of their transition back into the community," he said.

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Paraplegic Gets Sentenced To Penitentiary For Drug Conviction

ACCOMAC -- A 66--year-old paraplegic was sentenced to serve time in a penitentiary last week in Accomack Circuit Court.

Ross Taylor of Atlantic was convicted in December of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute while possessing a firearm. On Thursday, Taylor was sentenced to serve five years in the penitentiary. The sentence is mandatory for the crime.

"This gentleman is 66 years old and has been a paraplegic for 30 years," said defense attorney Pat Robbins in a plea for leniency to circuit Judge Glen A. Tyler.

Robbins said the man's condition was the result of gunshot wounds. He described Taylor as having many health problems and said his client was "wheelchair-bound and bedridden." He said the man would have to go to a special facility, which would be very costly.

Robbins told the court that his client had "no prior record, no felonies, no drug charges." He said Taylor had family and friends in the courtroom to support him.

"I register a strong objection," said Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Matthew Brenner. "The five-year mandatory sentence is necessary. The defendant has many health problems, but he is selling drugs and is a community problem himself."

Asking about details of the case, the judge was told that the man had about $600 worth of cocaine and a loaded .32 caliber revolver in bed with him at the time of his arrest.

"This court has no discretion; the law does not allow the court to reduce the case," said Circuit Judge Glen A. Tyler.

Hearing this, Taylor, who was slumped over in his wheelchair, spoke up.

"I'm in bad shape, judge," he said.

Tyler responded that the Department of Corrections has "an elaborate and extensive system" for caring for people with physical and mental disabilities.

"You will be required to serve the sentence," he said.

Family members who accompanied Ross to the courtroom expressed shock, disbelief and anger.

"It's not right," said a woman who rushed to Taylor's side after hearing the sentence. "He was shot seven times and nobody did anything."

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