A Muslim woman told to remove the veil covering her face to pose for a jail mugshot has prompted Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall in Nashville, Tennessee, to revise his policy regarding religious headwear.
The woman complained to the American Civil Liberties Union, which took up her cause.
As a result, “beginning Friday,” reports Erin Quinn of the Nashville Tennessean newspaper, “a person wearing face-covering religious headwear who is being booked into the jail will have two mugshots — one with the coverings on; the other will be taken with the headwear removed from the person’s face.”
According to Quinn:
The second shot will be taken in the presence only of a same-sex guard, be kept in a confidential file, and opened only through judicial order, said Karla Weikal, sheriff’s office spokeswoman.
The same rule applies at security checkpoints at Justice A.A. Birch Criminal Justice Building, Historic Metro-Nashville Courthouse and Davidson County Juvenile Justice Center. If someone wearing a type of religious headwear sets off a metal detector at the entrance, the person will be taken to a private room by a guard of the same sex. There, the person will remove the headdressing and be screened.
While local civil rights and religious leaders Tuesday applauded the revisions, some Middle Tennessee law enforcement officials said the sheriff’s office might be taking things a bit too far.
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