US Supreme Court limits damages over Rastafari inmate's cut dreadlocks

The US Supreme Court has ruled that a former Louisiana inmate could not seek money damages from prison officials who cut his dreadlocks despite his Rastafari religious beliefs.

The Associated Press reported that the justices condemned what happened to Damon Landor but found that the federal religious-rights law did not permit damages claims against individual officials.

Background

Landor's hair was shaved while he was in custody, an act the court did not defend, even as it concluded that the statute relied upon offered no route to financial compensation.

The ruling turns on the limits of how religious-freedom protections can be enforced against state officials, rather than on whether his rights were respected.

What happens next

Louisiana has since changed its grooming policy, a practical shift that follows the high-profile case even as the legal remedy was denied.

Civil-liberties advocates are likely to press for clearer statutory routes to redress, arguing that condemnation alone offers little protection to those affected.