The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal on a religious rights case brought by a devout Rastafarian whose locs were chopped off by Louisiana prison guards in 2020. At issue is whether Damon Landor can sue prison officials and recoup monetary damages for violating his religious rights.
Landor had taken a religious vow not to cut his hair and after almost 20 years it had grown to his knees, according to NBC News. He was almost finished serving a five-month sentence on a drug conviction and was even holding a copy of the court order that allowed religious accommodations for Rastafarians, when prison guards ignored the documents, handcuffed Landor to a chair and shaved off his locs.
Landor filed a lawsuit after his release under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a 2000 federal law protecting the religious freedom of people in institutions like prisons. Lower courts dismissed his case and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled he could not sue prison officials for damages.
In a court filing, state officials denounced what happened to Landor and said the Louisiana Department of Corrections and Public Safety had made changes to its policies to make sure what happened to Landor did not happen to anyone else. But they also argued Landor could not hold correction officials personally responsible under federal law.
Louisiana’s attorneys contended that if Landor’s case were allowed to move forward there would be “numerous unintended consequences,” including a more difficult environment for hiring jail and prison workers, USA Today reported.
“It is often damages or nothing,” his lawyers argued before the Supreme Court in appealing for relief.
The Department of Justice agreed, urging the Supreme Court to take the case because the issue is “undeniably important” and “recurs with some frequency.”
Lawyers for other religious groups, including Christians, Jews, Muslims and Sikh, weighed in, too, arguing before the justices that, “Unburdened by the threat of damages, prisons have little incentive to improve their policies and protect prisoners from future abuse,” according to USA Today.
And Landor’s attorneys argued that the court’s 2020 ruling allowing Muslim men to sue the FBI over their addition to a no-fly list under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act should guide justices in this case, too.
Not everyone is happy with the court’s decision. One social media user pointed out the high court did not agree to take up a case involving Facebook and the internet.
“Supreme Court Ignores Online Censorship Crisis, Focuses Instead on Dreadlocks in Prison.”
And another X user wrote, “I don’t trust this Supreme Court … we do have a problem.”
Another social media user called into question the court’s ability to even decide the case.
“Welp, if Dems can’t define a woman, how can Lefty judges + “Righty but Actually Lefty” Amy CB define what a dreadlock is?”
Landor’s case is similar to one out of Kentucky a few years ago. In that case an inmate sued, also under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, and Kentucky’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Carlos Thurman, a practicing Rastafarian, had his hair forcibly cut under the state correction’s department’s search policy rules.
Rastafari started as a religious and political movement in the 1930s in Jamaica by Black people in response to white colonialism. It was embraced by groups around the world. It blends Old Testament teachings with the idea of returning to Africa. Musicians Bob Marley and Peter Tosh helped spread the Rasta message during the 1970s.
The Supreme Court agreed to take up Landor’s appeal in its next term starting in October, which runs through June of 2026.
