Prison-Guidelines

[Dr Suess]

It's not legal but there's been a few cases of rastafarians locks being cut in custody. There was a big public uproar a few years ago over a young rastafarian girl who was pepper sprayed and arrested for not wearing a mask in a taxi - and then had her locks cut by a female officer at the station in Clarendon. And a couple years before that Police in Gordon Town cut the locks of a rastafarian's children who were escorted to the station by the children's aunt (and also fed meat despite their dietary restrictions)/

[Rob]

It's not legal but there's been a few cases of rastafarians locks being cut in custody. There was a big public uproar a few years ago over a young rastafarian girl who was pepper sprayed and arrested for not wearing a mask in a taxi - and then had her locks cut by a female officer at the station in Clarendon. And a couple years before that Police in Gordon Town cut the locks of a rastafarian's children who were escorted to the station by the children's aunt (and also fed meat despite their dietary restrictions)/

Neither of these incidents involved prison,which was the question. These cases were with 2 children being mishandled by 2 overzealous childcare workers.

In no way was this standard operating procedure for childcare let alone prison time.

[Dr Suess]

Neither of these incidents involved prison,which was the question. These cases were with 2 children being mishandled by 2 overzealous childcare workers.

In no way was this standard operating procedure for childcare let alone prison time.

in the case of Nzinga King she was an adult (19 years old) arrested for violating the covid laws regarding masking in public transport. Her locks were cut by the female officer on duty at the lockup in Clarendon.

These certainly aren't the standard, and as I pointed out they are not legal - but they do happen from time to time due to rogue individuals working in institutions. The Jamaican government (especially the party currently in power) has a pretty crap history when it comes to treatment of Rastafarians (look no further than Bustamante, the so-called "national hero" who openly called for the genocide of rastafarians)