Muslim Woman Sues Orange County Officials Over Hijab Removal and Confiscation

Orange County resident Tammi Green filed a federal lawsuit against Orange County and its officials for religious discrimination, alleging that they illegally confiscated her hijab and religious prayer beads during her booking and subsequent incarceration at Orange County jail. The lawsuit also alleges that Orange County Jail officers regularly failed to accommodate Ms. Green’s dietary requirements as a Muslim, often leaving her no choice but to go without food for extended periods of time. You can read the complaint here.

According to the lawsuit, Orange County officials forced Ms. Green to take photographs for her post-arrest processing and jail identification card without her hijab. They also prohibited her from wearing her hijab for more than twelve hours as she awaited arraignment.

The lawsuit further alleges that once Ms. Green was incarcerated, officers ransacked her cell on several occassions, confiscating her hijab and Quran, and destroying her misbahah, or prayer beads. On one occasion, Ms. Green was forced to live without a hijab for 22 days.

“Because the officers disposed of my hijabs, I was unable to pray for myself and my family, including my mother, who was dying from stage four cancer,” said Ms. Green. “I was so embarrassed to be exposed in front of men I should not have been. I was completely traumatized and had a crisis of faith because of what happened.”

In addition to the forced removal of Ms. Green’s hijab and religious items, the lawsuit describes that Ms. Green has been denied religious meals on several occassions, causing her to fast for extended periods of time at great risk to her health.

“I’ve had to constantly defend my religion at the Orange County Jail,” said Ms. Green. “Regardless of incarceration status, I believe that all people deserve to be treated with respect and decency. I am filing this lawsuit to get justice for myself, and so that this never happens again.”

Ms. Green is represented by Alanna Kaufman and Alyssa Isidoridy of Kaufman Lieb Lebowitz & Frick LLP, along with co-counsel Lamya Agarwala and Burhan Carroll of Council on American-Islamic Relations – New York.