By Jason Old
WISTV
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Leadership at Richland County’s jail have altered policy to allow Muslim women to wear religious head coverings during booking and detention after a New Year’s Eve incident that was reported to a national Muslim advocacy group.
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Thursday welcomed a decision by the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center to allow female inmates to wear religious head coverings, called “hijab.”
The nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization made the request for a policy change following a complaint from a Muslim woman who was taken into custody on December 31, 2012.
According to CAIR, she was allegedly told to remove her hijab so she could have her booking photograph taken. The booking officer reportedly disregarded the woman’s religious concerns and intimidated her into removing her scarf in the presence of a male officer.
Full story: Jail changes religious head coverings policy after incident