Muslim Woman Sues Prison for Forcing Her to Remove Headscarf
In Front of Male Guards and Prisoners

American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin
122 State Street
Madison, WI 53703

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 25, 2005

Contact: David Lasker, Lasker & Edwards, (608) 250-5055
Laurence Dupuis, ACLU of Wisconsin Foundation, (414) 272-4032, ext. 12

Madison, WI. -- A Muslim woman who was forced to remove her religious headscarf, or hijab, in front of male guards and prisoners as a condition of visiting her son’s father at Columbia Correctional Institution is filing a lawsuit in federal court today contesting the violation of her right to exercise her religion. The woman is represented by David Lasker, a Madison attorney, in cooperation with the ACLU of Wisconsin.

Cynthia Rhouni, a practicing Muslim woman, wears a headscarf at all times in public, particularly in the presence of men, as required by her faith. Failure to wear a headscarf under such circumstances constitutes a serious violation of her beliefs. On February 2, 2003, Ms. Rhouni took her son to visit his father, an inmate at Columbia Correctional Institution. At the gatehouse, the guard on duty told Ms. Rhouni she would have to remove her headscarf to enter. Ms. Rhouni explained that she wears the headscarf for religious reasons and offered to remove it in the presence of a female guard so the prison could be sure she was unarmed, but prison officials refused to accommodate Ms. Rouni’s request. Because she felt it was necessary for her son, who was having problems in school, to see his father, Ms. Rhouni took off her headscarf in front of the male guard and left it in a gatehouse locker. She entered the prison visiting area, but was humiliated and filled with guilt because she did not have her scarf while in the presence the male prisoners.

“I felt naked. I felt I disgraced my family and my religion,” Ms. Rhouni said. She has sought religious counseling to come to terms with this forced violation of her beliefs.

Attorney Lasker said, “The law requires the government to accommodate religious exercise. Although prisons have legitimate reasons to thoroughly search visitors, the prison in this case could have easily met its security needs by having a female guard search Ms. Rhouni’s hijab. Instead, the guards and administrators chose to trample unnecessarily on her religious freedom.”

The lawsuit seeks damages and an order that the prison change its policy to accommodate the religious rights of prison visitors.

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