Missouri jail to allow hijab for Muslim women, officials accommodate religious needs

[rug]

Posted by Raymond Ruiz on Apr 24 2012

The St. Louis chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations recently requested law enforcement officials in St. Louis County provide religious accommodation for Muslim women who wear an Islamic headscarf, or “hijab,” and are being held in the St. Louis County Jail in Clayton, Mo.

CAIR-St.Louis made the request after a Muslim woman was recently jailed because of an unpaid traffic ticketed and reported that an officer forcibly removed her hijab.

Director of St. Louis County Justice Services Herb Bernsen said he would review current policies “to try to work out a solution that would satisfy both our security needs and individual concerns.”

In a recent meeting that included Bernsen, Chief of Police for the St. Louis County Police Department Colonel Tim Fitch, representatives of CAIR, Muslim community leaders and other law enforcement and county officials, it was agreed that any Muslim woman wearing an hijab would be screened by a female officer in a private area and have the scarf returned following the screening.

http://www.theventureonline.com/2012/04/hijab2/

[cbayer]

1. Good for them. I see this as progress.

[Meiko]

2. It would be real progress

if they would stop throwing people in jail for parking tickets...Good grief!

[cbayer]

3. That, too, lol.

[Goblinmonger]

4. I agree. Good for them.

Probably taking some grief for it in Missouri (though St. Louis isn't too bad).