More than a third of the state's male prison inmates said their religious beliefs mandate beards, swamping the prison administration and its chaplains with thousands of accommodation requests, a prison official told the Board of Corrections on Monday.
The surge of more than 5,600 applications from male inmates to grow facial hair began after the state's Department of Correction revised its policy in February to allow beards of any length for inmates who can prove deeply held religious beliefs.
The Correction Department has asked the board to remove the exemption process and allow all inmates to grow beards if they choose to do so. The board is to vote on the proposal at its next meeting.
In January, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Arkansas Department of Correction could not prohibit inmate Gregory Houston Holt from growing a half-inch beard if it was for religious reasons.
When Holt, who goes by the name Abdul Maalik Muhammad, challenged the Correction Department's policy banning most beards, he did so under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which requires prison officials to show a compelling reason for limiting religious practices and to use the least restrictive method to do so.
The Supreme Court justices disagreed with the Correction Department's assertion that inmates could hide dangerous contraband in beards or could shave to disguise themselves.
Of the requests for religion-based accommodations made since February, the Correction Department has approved 2,522, allowing the inmates to grow facial hair, said Jim DePriest, the Correction Department's deputy director and legal counsel.
"I didn't know we had that many religious people in our prisons," board Chairman Benny Magness said.
DePriest said the Supreme Court ruling gave the inmates an avenue "just to show a certain level of control" over their environment, so they're taking advantage of the opportunity.
More than 2,009 personnel hours have been expended to process the influx of accommodation requests as well as the 607 grievance filings that have been made since the policy was enacted in February, DePriest told the board.
"The amount of resources put into this is just extraordinary," DePriest said.
The department's previous grooming policy, adopted in 1998, had no religious exemption and prohibited facial hair besides a "neatly trimmed mustache that does not extend beyond the corner of the mouth or over the lip." The only exception was for inmates with certain medical conditions. Those inmates were allowed a beard up to a quarter-inch long.
The department's current policy allows inmates to request a religious exemption for beard and hair length, and it does not limit the length of either.
To be approved for a religious accommodation, a prison chaplain must determine -- through interviews with the inmate -- whether the inmate's religious beliefs are "sincerely held."
"Is it likely there is a true religious conviction? Extremely unlikely," DePriest said.
If the department eliminated the requirement to prove religious belief, the number of prisoners sporting facial hair would likely decrease, DePriest told the board. It would also lessen the burden on correctional officers who are charged with enforcing the policy, he added.
A large number of the requests that were denied for security reasons will be reviewed if the policy is eliminated, DePriest said.
Board member Buddy Chadick asked whether a disciplinary component could be added to the proposed directive, making it possible to revoke the beard-growing privilege as a punishment for breaking prison rules.
D̶e̶P̶r̶i̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶s̶a̶i̶d̶ ̶H̶o̶l̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶t̶r̶i̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶e̶s̶c̶a̶p̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶s̶,̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶S̶u̶p̶r̶e̶m̶e̶
̶C̶o̶u̶r̶t̶ ̶s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶r̶u̶l̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶H̶o̶l̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶u̶n̶d̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶l̶i̶g̶i̶o̶u̶s̶
̶a̶c̶c̶o̶m̶m̶o̶d̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶g̶r̶o̶w̶ ̶f̶a̶c̶i̶a̶l̶ ̶h̶a̶i̶r̶.̶*
"You're still going to have to deal with religious accommodation," board member Mary Parker-Reed said.
Allowing all inmates to grow beards would be the easiest way to reduce the extreme burden the policy placed on prison personnel, Chadick said.
"I don't want to tie up staff like we did," he said.
Magness asked the board Monday to delay the vote until the next meeting, giving the board time to research the issue to fully understand the ramifications and giving staff time to create an administrative directive to reflect the proposed change.
Chadick said it was more important for the board to "understand we're using man-hours for something that can be resolved quickly."
Board member Bobby Glover expressed frustration with having to deal with the facial hair of inmates at all.
"I wish they [inmates] had gotten religion before they went to the penitentiary," Glover said. "This is down-right ridiculous."
Metro on 11/24/2015
*CORRECTION: Arkansas Department of Correction inmate Larry Wayne Jones has attempted to escape from prison five times. The escape history was incorrectly assigned to inmate Gregory Houston Holt in this article.