Policy Text
Correctional Services
MJ / RCCC P age 1 of 7 8/12 (Rev 8/13)
Religious Accommodation
The purpose of this Operations Order is to ensure that legitima te requests by inmates
for religious accommodation ar e handled in a lawful manner.
I. Policy Statement
It is the policy of the Sacrament o County Sheriff’s Department to review and
approve all requests for religi ous accommodation unless an inma te’s request is
not based on his or her sincerely held religious beliefs, or if denying the request
will further a compelling Departm ent interest such as avoiding burdensome
expenses, burdensome administrat ive needs, or breaches in secur ity and denial
is the least restrictive option available.
II. Intake Procedure
A. Inmates may profess a religio n that requires modesty as a ke y component
of their religious practices. To achieve this level of modesty they are
required to wear head coverings. Arrestees at intake shall not be
permitted to retain their personal religious head coverings wit hout first
being subject to a complete search . Once a cursory search of t he
arrestee has been conducted and all other personal items have b een
removed from the arrestee, staff s hall escort the inmate to an area of
privacy, and instruct the inmate to remove their religious head covering.
After reasonably ensuring the inmate’s hair and head covering a re free of
contraband, weapons and drugs, and t hat the head covering itsel f is not of
sufficient length to be used to hang oneself with, the religiou s head
covering shall be returned and t he inmate shall be allowed to r eplace their
head covering before leavi ng the private area.
B. Two sets of booking photogr aphs will be taken of arrestees w ho retain
their religious head covering. In one set of photographs the a rrestee will
wear his/her head covering and in the second set of photographs the
arrestee will not be wearing t heir head covering. Only the sta ff required
for safety and the photographing procedures will be present dur ing this
process.
Correctional Services
MJ / RCCC P age 2 of 7 8/12 (Rev 8/13) III. Housing Procedure
A. All requests for religious acco mmodation will be initiated b y individual
inmates, via the facilities “K ite” process, regarding each spec ific religious
accommodation.
Requests will be routed to the Co rrectional Ministries Director for initial
review. The Correctional Ministries Dir ector will review the request an d based on
his or her training and experi ence will make a determination on religious
sincerity. In cases of denial, t he Correctional Ministries Dir ector may also
schedule an interview between t he inmate and an appropriate com munity
religious leader (priest, rabbi, i mam, etc) appro ved by the Dep artment.
The community religious leader w ill attempt to determine the si ncerity of
the inmate’s held religious bel ief. The Correctional Ministrie s Director will
report those findings, in writi ng, to the facility commander or his/her
designee. If the inmate’s religious belie f appears to be sincere, the fac ility
commander or his/her designee will attempt to approve the inmat e’s
request for accommodation unless denial is warranted based on a
compelling government interest a nd denial is the least restrict ive option.
Each facility commander shall be a llowed the latitude to grant or deny a
request on a case-by-case basis.
B. All cases will be doc umented in writing via a “READ ME” PF 1 0 incident
report. The burden lies with t he Department to show that its d ecision to
deny an inmate’s sincere request for religious accommodation wa s done
in a thoughtful manner serves a co mpelling governmental interes t and
employs the least restrictive means possible. This includes th e burden to
demonstrate that the Department has actually considered and rej ected the
efficacy of less restrictive m easures before denying the reques ted
religious practice. Laws related to religious accomm odation do not provide one defi nition of
what may constitute a compelling government interest. Potential
compelling interests include, bu t are not necessarily limited t o:
1. Maintenance of good or der within the jails
2. Security of inm ates and facilities
3. Maintenance of discipline within the jails 4. Severe administrative and financial burdens Case documentation will incl ude adequate evidence supporting th e
commander’s decision when restri cting an accommodation. Eviden ce
may consist of:
Correctional Services
MJ / RCCC P age 3 of 7 8/12 (Rev 8/13) 1. Budgetary details depicting bur densome expenses of accommoda ting
a request;
2. Details of the administrativ e burden of accommodating a requ est;
3. Details describing the readily available alterative means by which the
inmate could practice his or her religious beliefs in the jail facility,
4. Documentation describ ing which alternatives were denied and why the
Department rejected t he accommodation request;
5. Evidence of how order, discipl ine or security will be harmed should the
requested accommodat ion be granted.
D. Common religious requests and how they may be accommodated i n light
of the general policy noted above