Washington – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday ruled in favor of a Muslim prison inmate who challenged a regulation that prevented him from growing a beard.
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The nine justices, on a 9-0 vote, said that the prison policy violated the religious rights of inmate Gregory Holt, who wants to grow a half-inch (1.3 cm) beard in accordance with his Muslim beliefs.
The court rejected the state’s reasoning that the policy was needed for security reasons. Justice Samuel Alito, writing on behalf of the court, said the state already searches clothing and hair and had not given a valid reason why it could not also search beards.
Alito wrote that the prison’s “interest in eliminating contraband cannot sustain its refusal to allow petitioner to grow a half-inch beard.”
Holt said the state’s prison grooming policy prohibiting inmates from having facial hair other than a “neatly trimmed mustache” violated his religious rights under a 2000 federal law called the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.
Holt’s lawyers noted that more than 40 states and the federal government allow prison inmates to have similar beards.
Holt is serving a life sentence for burglary and domestic battery at the Varner Supermax prison, according to the Arkansas Department of Correction.
The case is Holt v. Hobbs, U.S. Supreme Court, 13-6827.