A group of Muslim inmates at California State Prison, Solano has won another victory in its battle to practice its religion - a court ruling that bars state prison officials from disciplining inmates for attending weekly services and wearing beards.
U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence K. Karlton issued a summary judgment in favor of the inmates and their long-running class action suit against the state. He issued a permanent injunction against the Department of Corrections, saying state prison inmates who are Muslim can attend Friday services and wear half-inch beards in accordance with their faith, without facing discipline or loss of sentence reductions.
A group of roughly 300 Muslim inmates at CSP Solano filed the class action suit in 1996, charging that the prison unfairly punished members of the religion for missing prison work assignments while attending Muslim Friday services, or "Jumu'ah"
In 2001, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. District Court sided with the inmates, saying the prison's policies violated the Muslim inmates' right to religious freedom.
The state appealed, but its argument was rejected in 2002.
Karlton's ruling makes his previous preliminary injunctions permanent.
The ruling was necessary, the inmates' attorney argued, because Muslim inmates were facing continued disciplinary actions for refusing to shave their beards and for attending the Friday services.
In issuing his ruling, Karlton noted that state prison officials allow for other inmates to take up to 16 hours off a month for things such as receiving visitors or attending special events, and therefore also could allow for one hour Jumu'ah attendance.