Landor v. LA DOC: Oral Argument

Case Summary:Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections involves Damon Landor, a Rastafarian incarcerated in Louisiana whose religious beliefs require him to wear his hair in dreadlocks. After Landor showed prison officials a Fifth Circuit decision stating that forcibly cutting a Rastafarian prisoner’s hair violates the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), officers allegedly threw the opinion in the trash, strapped him down, and shaved his head bald, leading Landor, after his release, to sue the DOC secretary, the warden, and involved guards for money damages under RLUIPA, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and state law. The issue before the Supreme Court was whether a former prisoner can recover money damages in a lawsuit based on violations of his religious rights under RLUIPA, specifically, whether prison officials can be sued for damages (in their official or individual capacities) for forcibly cutting his dreadlocks in violation of that statute and related constitutional protections.