{"id":2418,"date":"2010-05-09T17:16:01","date_gmt":"2010-05-10T00:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2010\/05\/rastaman-freedom-soon-come-say-the-screw\/"},"modified":"2010-05-10T09:30:33","modified_gmt":"2010-05-10T16:30:33","slug":"rastaman-freedom-soon-come-say-the-screw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/2010\/05\/09\/rastaman-freedom-soon-come-say-the-screw\/","title":{"rendered":"Natty Dreadlocks freedom soon come, say The Screw"},"content":{"rendered":"

from AP via Yahoo! News<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Rasta inmates spend 10 years in isolation for hair<\/h1>\n

By DENA POTTER, Associated Press Writer\u00a0<\/cite>\u2013\u00a0Sat\u00a0May\u00a08, 12:00\u00a0am\u00a0ET<\/abbr><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

JARRATT, Va. \u2013 Kendall Gibson would seem to be one of Virginia’s most dangerous prisoners.<\/p>\n

\"Kendall<\/a><\/p>\n

For more than 10 years he has lived in segregation at the\u00a0Greensville Correctional Center<\/span>, spending at least 23 hours every day in a cell the size of a gas station bathroom. In a temporary home for the worst of the worst \u2014 inmates too violent or disruptive to live among the rest of society’s outcasts \u2014 he has been a permanent fixture.<\/p>\n

He is there, he says, not for his crimes but for a crime he will not commit \u2014 a crime against God.<\/p>\n

The only thing imposing about Gibson is his long black dreadlocks, resting on the front of his shoulders so they won’t drag the ground as he shuffles along in his orange jumpsuit.<\/p>\n

It is his hair \u2014 winding locks he considers a measure of his Rastafarian faith \u2014 that makes him a threat, according to\u00a0Virginia Department of Corrections<\/span>\u00a0Operating Procedure No. 864.1.<\/p>\n

The rule took effect on Dec. 15, 1999. Inmates had two choices: cut their hair no longer than their collars and shave their beards, or be placed in administrative segregation.<\/p>\n

In the beginning, Gibson was among as many as 40 inmates who opted for confinement over cutting. By 2003, when a handful of the inmates filed a federal lawsuit against the department over their detention, 23 remained in segregation.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit failed. Some cracked under the pressure of constant isolation with no visits from loved ones, educational or religious programs or commissary. Some went home.<\/p>\n

Today, it’s difficult to tell exactly how many remain in isolation. The Department of Corrections won’t volunteer the information, but has confirmed 10 names given to The Associated Press by a group of Rastafarian inmates.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>[ click to continue reading at Yahoo! News<\/a> ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

from AP via Yahoo! News Rasta inmates spend 10 years in isolation for hair By DENA POTTER, Associated Press Writer\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Sat\u00a0May\u00a08, 12:00\u00a0am\u00a0ET   JARRATT, Va. \u2013 Kendall Gibson would seem to be one of Virginia’s most dangerous prisoners. For more than 10 years he has lived in segregation at the\u00a0Greensville Correctional Center, spending at least 23 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2418\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}