Dreadlocks gone, Portsmouth inmate cries foul

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Dreadlocks gone, Portsmouth inmate cries foul over forced haircut

By JEN MCCAFFERY

The Virginian-Pilot

June 23, 2007

PORTSMOUTH

It took Bernard Montoria Garris 13 years to grow dreadlocks down to his waist.

It took just a few minutes last month for a Portsmouth City Jail employee to cut them off.

The jail's emergency response team, wearing masks and carrying electric shock shields and a gun, forcibly strapped Garris into a chair and hacked away at his hair with clippers, according to the inmate.

Garris said recently that he is a Rastafarian who wore long dreadlocks as a symbol of his religion and to cover gunshot wounds on the back of his head. He had been in the jail for 13 months on a probation violation.

His haircut was ordered and witnessed by Portsmouth Sheriff Bill Watson, who oversees and sets policy for the city's jail.

"When you come in here, you have two choices: You can cut your hair, or we'll cut it for you," Watson said. "You have to understand. This is the Portsmouth City Jail, not the Hotel Hilton."

Watson said this week that he started enforcing a long-standing hair policy last month as part of an investigation into contraband in the jail.

The policy requires prisoners to keep hair short, Watson said, because they can hide illegal substances and items in long hair. Short haircuts also promote good hygiene, he said.

Watson said he doesn't know how many inmates have been required to get haircuts. Garris is the only inmate who has refused to comply, Watson said.

Portsmouth's hair policy is unusual among local jails in Hampton Roads.

"We do not make inmates shave or cut their hair when they come in as long as they keep it clean," said Bonita Harris, a spokeswoman for Norfolk Sheriff Bob McCabe's office.

Hampton Roads Regional Jail's haircut policy states that "inmates will have freedom in their personal grooming except when a valid interest justifies otherwise." It also states that "no unusual or exotic hair styles will be permitted."

Portsmouth defense attorneys Trey Piersall and Lee Ann Bierowicz said they see a variety of hairstyles when visiting clients in local jails: pony-tails, dreadlocks, plats and pom poms - natural hair that is sectioned off and placed in two rubber bands near the center of the head.

"It's pretty much what you see on the street," Bierowicz said.

Federal prisons have no restrictions on inmates' hair. However, Virginia's state prison system does.

In 1999, Virginia Department of Correction officials banned long hair on men, including dreadlocks. Long hair can conceal contraband, spokesman Larry Traylor said.

The policy allows women to grow hair to their shoulders, but they, too, are banned from wearing dreadlocks. Men must have a 1-inch hair length or shorter.

The policy encourages hygiene and makes it difficult for inmates to alter their appearance to avoid recognition, Traylor said.

As of June 1, about 35 of the roughly 31,500 inmates in state prisons have refused to comply, he said. Inmates can then be placed in segregation, he said.

In 2003, the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia challenged the state's policy in federal court on behalf of a handful of Virginia inmates.

Federal law prohibits jails that receive federal money from regulating how inmates practice their religion, except when there is a compelling interest for restrictions, said Rebecca Glenberg, legal director of the ACLU of Virginia.

The law also states that institutions should exercise the least restrictive ways of maintaining security.

A federal judge in Richmond ruled last summer for the Department of Corrections. The ACLU of Virginia has appealed the ruling.

"It's one thing to put a prisoner in segregation but another thing to forcibly cut their hair," said Kent Willis, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia.

Garris, 45, has been a practicing Rastafarian since 1994.

In an inmate grievance form, Garris wrote that "I feel that my life is in danger and or I may receive bodily harm from Portsmouth City Jail. Sheriff Bill Watson and I have had words and I was punched by one deputy."

The Portsmouth native was transferred to the regional jail on May 29.

Over the years, Garris has served time in Portsmouth and Chesapeake jails on convictions that include bribery of a witness, grand larceny and possession of cocaine.

He said he has seen lots of inmates with long hair and dreadlocks.

In 2002, when he began serving 20 months in the Portsmouth jail, his hair extended halfway down his back.

"I've been going there for a while, and I never had problems with nobody," Garris said earlier this month.

Garris first learned of the jail's policy on May 10.

A captain from the sheriff's department visited Garris' unit and told him and other inmates that the jail had a new policy and that inmates would need to get their hair cut by a barber that week, Garris recalled.

He refused.

Later that day, Garris was placed in segregation for 30 days for disobeying a direct order, according to an incident report.

The next day, Garris said Watson came to his cell and asked the inmate through the bars if he was going to cut his hair.

Again, Garris refused.

Garris was placed in handcuffs and then strapped into a chair.

Garris said his dreadlocks were cut with clippers.

He was left with patches of hair all over his head, he said. The next day, he asked a prison barber to shave his head bald.

Watson verified Garris' account, saying that Garris was "very belligerent" and refused to cut his hair, so the jailers cut it for him.

"You're not going to be a street thug in our jail," Watson said.

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"I've been going there for a while, and I never had problems with nobody," Garris said earlier this month."