Michigan s recidivism rate continues to decline, MDOC says fox17online.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from fox17online.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
December 18, 2020 at 1:54 pm | Published in: Asia & Americas, News, US
Blurred photos of Muslim women inmates who were allegedly forced to remove their hijabs for their ID photos in Michigan, US 18 December 2020 [Fox2detroit] December 18, 2020 at 1:54 pm
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation, has filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) over allegedly forcing female inmates to remove their hijabs for their ID photos.
The lawsuit comes after more than 15 women claimed they were forced to remove their headscarves for booking photos. The inmates include Muslim women and those belonging to the Moorish Science religious movement.
4:02
Michigan Radio s Tracy Samilton speaks with three inmates about what it s been like living through a pandemic inside Michigan prisons.
Michigan National Guard Soldiers and Airmen from various units conduct COVID-19 testing at the Chippewa Correctional Facility, Kincheloe, Michigan, May 7, 2020. The Michigan National Guard was asked to assist in the testing of more than 2300 prisoners.
Credit Master Sgt. David Eichaker / Air National Guard
The state’s prisons have been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly 50% of Michigan’s prison inmates have been infected by the virus.
As inmate Debra McDaniel notes, The United States wasn t even prepared for this, let alone a correctional facility.
Credit Michigan Department of Corrections
The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), a Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, filed a lawsuit Monday against the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
The lawsuit was brought on behalf of Muslim and Moorish Science women who are being housed primarily at the MDOC s Women s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Pittsfield Township.
According to the complaint, the MDOC has a policy that forces female inmates to remove their religious head scarves, known as hijabs, to have an ID photo taken.The MDOC then places the photo on the women s identification cards which the women are requird to present to male and female guards and staff.
Michigan prisons sued for ID photos of Muslim women without hijabs
By Taryn Asher and FOX 2 Staff
Published It s embarrassing it is humiliating and it is degrading for Muslim women, said Amy Doukore.
Lawsuit filed against state prison system for mugshots of convicts without Muslim headscarves
Out of respect for the women, FOX 2 has blurred some of the pictures that appear on the website s offender search that have now sparked a federal class action lawsuit against the MDOC.
More than 15 Muslim and Moorish science incarcerated women have come forward saying they were forced to take off their religious headscarves for booking photos. The photos were not only shown on their prison ID cards but on the public Michigan Department of Corrections website for anyone to see.