Prison Conditions

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An inmate at the Lebanon County jail claims the punishment for not cutting his hair violates his First Amendment rights

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February 27, 2020 | Fox 43 | Harri Leigh

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LEBANON, Pa. —

Eric McGill is alone in a cell at the Lebanon County Correctional Facility. He’s been in solitary confinement for more than a year because he won’t cut his dreadlocks. On Feb. 20 McGill filed a civil action against Lebanon County and three administrators of the county jail, claiming they are violating his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

McGill, 27, who was arrested in January 2019 for his alleged role in a shooting that injured four people, wears dreadlocks as part of his Rastafarian religion.

Rastafarians do not cut their hair, following the “Nazarite vow” described in the Old Testament.

”He believes that his hair has spiritual significance. He believes that it connects him with his ancestors, he believes that it gives strength and purity that he needs for the afterlife,” said Matthew Feldman, a lawyer with the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project representing McGill.

The Lebanon County Correctional Facility allows long hair in ponytails, but not dreads. When McGill would not cut his off, he was placed in administrative segregation, also known as solitary confinement. McGill’s lawyers said this punishment is denying his First Amendment right to freedom of religion and Fourteenth Amendment right to due process of law.

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Lebanon Co. inmate spends 400 days in solitary confinement for length of his hair

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LEBANON COUNTY, Pa. — A Lebanon County inmate has spent more than 400 days in solitary confinement, not for bad behavior, but because of the length of his hair.Now, the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project has filed a motion on his behalf to have him released back into general population.“He is in his cell 23 hours a day or more, five days a week. He is allowed outside for up to an hour of recreation that can take place between midnight to 2 a.m.,” said Alexandra Morgan-Kurtz, managing attorney for the PA Institutional Law Project.This timeframe is the only time his attorney said he can make phone calls.

“So, it’s really led to a complete cut off between him and his family," Morgan-Kurtz said.

It is all because Eric McGill will not cut his hair.

A motion filed on February 19, 2020, said it is against his Rastafarian beliefs, and that he hasn’t cut his hair for several years.

Since he will not cut his hair, Lebanon County Correctional Facility has reportedly placed McGill in solitary confinement since January 19, 2019.

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Inmate seeks end to solitary over refusal to cut dreadlocks

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February 25, 2020 | Associated Press | Mark Scolforo

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — An inmate awaiting trial in a shooting case wants a federal judge to release him from solitary confinement in a central Pennsylvania county jail, where he has been for more than a year because he refuses to cut dreadlocks that hold religious significance for him.

The hand-written lawsuit filed in October by Eric S. McGill Jr. against three senior administrators at the Lebanon County Correctional Facility shifted gears last week, when a group of lawyers produced an amended complaint that warned McGill’s mental health is deteriorating.

It said McGill, 27, of Lebanon, an adherent of Rastafarianism, suffers anxiety attacks two or three times a week, and they are usually triggered by thoughts of his jail conditions and placement in solitary.

“By keeping Mr. McGill in solitary confinement because he refuses to cut off his dreadlocks, (the) defendants have inhibited his right to free exercise of religion for no legitimate penological purpose,” his lawyers with the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project told the court last week, seeking an order that he be placed in the jail’s general population, as well as damages.

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His hair is sacred. But to get out of solitary confinement, his jailers say he must cut it off.

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February 25, 2020 | PA Post | Joseph Darius Jafaari

A Rastafarian inmate has been in solitary confinement for a year. The jail’s warden said he can get out if he cuts his hair.

The Lebanon County Correctional Facility’s handbook says no inmate can have long hair unless it is worn in a ponytail or a bun. But for many Black inmates, that rule doesn’t apply. Instead, they are placed in solitary confinement if they refuse to cut their hair.

One inmate currently in segregated housing says that policy violates his religious rights. Eric McGill, who is Black, wears his hair in dreadlocks. A practicing Rastafarian, McGill has refused to cut his hair since he was taken into custody more than a year ago. (Rastafarians do not cut their hair, ascribing to a strict reading of the Old Testament that forbids it.)

McGill, 27, reached out to PA Post in January this year, saying he was placed in segregated housing on Jan. 19, 2019, because of his refusal to cut his dreadlocks.

“I’ve haven’t cut them due to my beliefs and way of life,” he said in an online message to PA Post.

Inmates kept in solitary confinement are allowed just five to 20 minutes of time outside their cell per day. McGill is also limited to two hours a day to make phone calls to his family — between midnight and 2 a.m. Not uncommon for people who are in solitary for extended periods of time, McGill has since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, severe depression and anxiety, according to court records.

In an affidavit filed with the court, Robert J. Karnes, the warden of the Lebanon County jail, said inmates who choose to cut off their dreadlocks are able to leave solitary confinement.

Though not mentioned in the handbook directly, dreadlocks and other long hair styles are forbidden, corrections officials say, because inmates can use the hair to hide weapons or contraband.

According to the affidavit Karnes signed, McGill hasn’t committed any other infractions to justify solitary confinement.

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Press Release: Man Held in Solitary Confinement for Refusing to Cut Off Dreadlocks Sues Lebanon County

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 19, 2020

Press contact:
Rebecca Susman, Communications Manager, Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project Email: rsusman@pailp.org
Phone: 412-254-4771

PHILADELPHIA, PA – The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP) filed a motion for preliminary injunction today on behalf of Eric S. McGill, Jr., a pretrial detainee at Lebanon County Correctional Facility (LCCF) who has been held in solitary confinement for over a year solely because he refuses to cut off his dreadlocks. Lebanon County’s practice of punishing people who refuse to cut their dreadlocks, without allowing for religious exemptions, violates Mr. McGill’s rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA).

In compliance with his Rastafarian faith, Mr. McGill does not cut his hair and has not for several years. Mr. McGill believes that his spirit lives through his dreadlocks and to cut them off would be to lose his strength and essence needed for the afterlife. Lebanon County’s own rules and regulations allow incarcerated people to have long hair if it is tied up or in a single ponytail. Despite Mr. McGill offering to tie his hair up in a ponytail, Lebanon County continues to detain him in solitary confinement.

“Mr. McGill has endured solitary confinement for over a year, conditions internationally recognized as torture, for adhering to his faith and refusing to cut his dreadlocks. This flies in the face of RLUIPA, passed by Congress to ensure that incarcerated people have the same religious liberty as all Americans,” stated Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project Managing Attorney Alexandra Morgan-Kurtz.

Mr. McGill has been in solitary confinement since January 19, 2019. He is only allowed out of his cell for at most one hour per day, five days per week, between midnight and 2:00AM. This is also the only time he is permitted to make calls to his family. These conditions have exacerbated his PTSD and caused him frequent panic attacks and additional psychological trauma. In today’s filing, the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project asked the Court to order Lebanon County to transfer Mr. McGill from solitary confinement to general population.

“Contrary to what Lebanon County prison staff have asserted, dreadlocks do not present a security or cleanliness concern. Dozens of jail and prison systems across the United States permit prisoners to have dreadlocks. Lebanon County’s placement of Mr. McGill in solitary confinement is purely punitive and serves no legitimate purpose,” said Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project staff attorney Matthew A. Feldman. “It is not lost on us or Mr. McGill that Lebanon County is singling out a Black hairstyle and a Black religion for this discriminatory, inhumane, and illegal treatment.”

The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project is representing Eric McGill, Jr. in the case Eric S. McGill, Jr. v. Clements, et al., Case No. 19-cv-01712, filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Read the press release pdf here

Case documents
Amended Complaint
Motion for Preliminary Injunction

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Transgender Pa. prison inmate sues Corrections Dept., claiming they were denied proper healthcare

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February 12, 2020 | Pennsylvania Capital-Star | Elizabeth Hardison

A transgender prisoner at a women’s prison in northwestern Pennsylvania is suing the state Department of Corrections, saying that bureaucratic hurdles, inadequate medical training, and invasions of privacy put them on a path to depression and self-mutilation.

The lawsuit, filed last month in the U.S. District Court for Pennsylvania’s Western District in Pittsburgh, seeks monetary damages and immediate medical care and housing accommodations for the prisoner, who was identified at birth as a woman, but does not identify as male or female now, according to court documents. 

It also names a dozen corrections employees as defendants, including Corrections Secretary John Wetzel and prison psychologists, doctors and staff.

Corrections spokeswoman Susan McNaughton said on Tuesday that the agency does not comment on litigation.

The prisoner, identified in court filings by the pseudonym Sam Doe, is being represented by the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, a statewide legal aid organization that litigates prisoner civil rights claims. 

The attorneys say the prison’s failure to properly administer Doe’s testosterone treatment caused Doe significant anguish and physical harm. That violated Doe’s rights under the eighth amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which outlaws cruel and unusual punishment for prisoners, they said.

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2019 Annual Report from the frontlines of the fight for prisoner's rights

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2019 was an exceptional year for the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project. We are on the frontlines every day working to ensure that people behind bars are afforded their constitutional rights and we challenge the system when these rights are violated. In 2019 year alone PILP won a groundbreaking ruling for immigrants’ rights at ICE facilities, secured settlements and policy change for women who were sexually abused, held an institution accountable for inhumane, punitive solitary confinement, and won a class action gender discrimination case.

Read more about our work safeguarding prisoners’ rights, our dedicated staff, and how you can get involved HERE

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Jury finds Berks County guilty of gender discrimination.

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November 20, 2019 | Reading Eagle | Karen Shuey

The federal trial centered on allegations that women assigned trusty status were treated differently than men who were housed at the Berks County Reentry Center.

A federal jury last week found that Berks County violated the constitutional rights of women assigned trusty status incarcerated at the Berks County Prison by denying them the same access to furloughs as men who hold the same status.

The case centered around a lawsuit filed by former inmates Theresa Victory and Alice Velazquez-Diaz, alleging that women assigned trusty status are treated differently than men who hold the same status and are housed at the Berks County Reentry Center. The action aimed to provide female trusty inmates at the prison the same freedoms and opportunities given to their male counterparts.

At the conclusion of a weeklong trial in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, a jury of eight found that the two women were subjected to discrimination claims under the 14th Amendment. In addition, the jury awarded $2,800 in compensatory damages to Victory, who has since married and changed her name to Theresa Bohning, finding that the discriminatory treatment caused her harm.

Attorney Su Ming Yeh of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, which represented the women, applauded the outcome of the trial.

"We are pleased that the jury recognized that Berks County was refusing to provide equal opportunities to incarcerated women in connecting with their families and preparing for reentry back into society," Yeh said in a press release.

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