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12 

HOLT v. HOBBS 

Opinion of the Court 

We agree that prisons have a compelling interest in the
quick  and  reliable  identification  of  prisoners,  and  we
acknowledge  that  any  alteration  in  a  prisoner’s  appear-
ance, such as by shaving a beard, might, in the absence of 
effective countermeasures, have at least some effect on the 
ability  of  guards  or  others  to  make  a  quick  identification.
But  even  if  we  assume  for  present  purposes  that  the  De-
partment’s  grooming  policy  sufficiently  furthers  its  inter-
est  in  the  identification  of  prisoners,  that  policy  still  vio-
lates  RLUIPA  as  applied  in  the  circumstances  present 
here.  The Department contends that a prisoner who has a 
beard when he is photographed for identification purposes
might  confuse  guards  by  shaving  his  beard.  But  as  peti-
tioner has argued, the Department could largely solve this 
problem  by  requiring  that  all  inmates  be  photographed
without  beards  when  first  admitted  to  the  facility  and,  if
necessary,  periodically  thereafter.    Once  that  is  done,  an 
inmate  like  petitioner  could  be  allowed  to  grow  a  short
beard  and  could  be  photographed  again  when  the  beard 
reached the  1⁄2-inch limit.  Prison guards would then have
a bearded and clean-shaven photo to use in making identi-
fications.  In fact, the Department (like many other States, 
see  Brief  for  Petitioner  39)  already  has  a  policy  of  photo-
graphing  a  prisoner  both  when  he  enters  an  institution 
and  when  his  “appearance  changes  at  any  time  during
[his]  incarceration.”    Arkansas  Department  of  Correction, 
Inmate Handbook 3–4 (rev. Jan. 2013).

The  Department  argues  that  the  dual-photo  method  is 
inadequate  because,  even  if  it  might  help  authorities
apprehend  a  bearded  prisoner  who  escapes  and  then
shaves  his  beard  once  outside  the  prison,  this  method  is
unlikely  to  assist  guards  when  an  inmate  quickly  shaves 
his  beard  in  order  to  alter  his  appearance  within  the 
prison.  The  Department  contends  that  the  identification
concern  is  particularly  acute  at  petitioner’s  prison,  where
inmates  live  in  barracks  and  work  in  fields.    Counsel  for