The country’s largest Muslim civil rights organization is calling on the Knox County Sheriff’s Office to allow women to wear their hijab if they are forced to sit for a mug shot, a policy followed by many police agencies nationwide out of respect for constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion.
The statement from the Council on American-Islamic Relations comes less than a month after a Knoxville woman sued KCSO in federal court because the agency published a mug shot of her taken without her hijab after she was arrested on May 15 while participating in a pro-Palestinian protest. Publication of the mug shot runs counter to the written policy KCSO had in place.
Layla Soliz was arrested with 10 other protestors on the University of Tennessee campus on charges of criminal trespass. During Soliz’s booking, sheriff’s office personnel took her mug shot with and without her hijab, a head-covering worn by Muslim women as part of their faith.
“The First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom does not expire in police stations or sheriff’s offices,” said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, deputy executive director of the council, in a news release. “Our constitution ensures every American the right to practice their faith in all circumstances. By forcing a Muslim woman to remove her hijab for a booking photo, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office is violating this right.”
Against sheriff’s office policy and Soliz’s religious beliefs, the agency published the mug shot of Soliz without her hijab on its 24-hour arrest list webpage before it was replaced with one showing her in her hijab. The photo remains accessible on third-party mug shot databases, which frequently create a lasting digital record for people regardless of their guilt or innocence.
“We appreciate CAIR’s advocacy on this important issue and join CAIR in urging the Knox County Sheriff’s Office to change its booking policy immediately,” Daniel Horwitz, Soliz’s attorney, said in a written statement to Knox News.
Soliz has sued for at least $250,000 in damages and for her picture to be expunged from the sheriff’s office database. She also wants to amend KCSO policy so that hijabi women no longer have to remove their head coverings for future mug shots, Horwitz said in an email to Knox News on Oct. 11.
The demonstrators knew they risked arrest during their calls for a halt to Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and the university’s disassociation with Israel but were willing to engage in civil disobedience to highlight Palestinian rights. Soliz told Knox News in May that she was assured by officers the mug shot taken without her hijab would not be visible to male officers or the public, but KCSO published it.
“As a Muslim that’s a stressor. Not only had my rights to freedom of speech been infringed upon but my religious freedom as well,” Soliz said.
KCSO spokeswoman Kimberly Glenn did not respond to a phone message and email from Knox News requesting comment.
Earlier this year in Tennessee, Rutherford County reached a settlement in a lawsuit involving the forced removal of a Muslim woman’s hijab for a booking photo following her arrest. Sophia Johnston was awarded $100,000 by Rutherford County, which also committed to revising its booking policies to accommodate religious attire.
In 2011, Metro Nashville loosened its security policies for religious headwear when the American Civil Liberties Union pushed for the changes. Davidson County Sheriff’s Office now keeps two sets of mug shots for women who wear religious head coverings. Only one with religious headwear will be made public while the photo without must be kept confidential.
Some lawsuits have resulted in costly settlements in favor of women forced to remove their hijab. The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations initiated a class-action civil rights lawsuit in federal court in 2020 to to prevent the Yonkers Police Department from removing religious head coverings of arrestees for mug shots and during custody. The plaintiffs won a $175,000 award. Earlier this year, the council announced it had settled for $17.5 million with New York City after two women were forced by police to remove their hijabs before being photographed by police.
Areena Arora, data and investigative reporter for Knox News, can be reached by email at areena.arora@knoxnews.com. Follow her on X @AreenaArora and on Instagram @areena_news.