Opinion ID: 449695
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Safety and Sanitation Justification

Text: 19 The Commonwealth offered evidence that allowing an inmate to wear his hair long involves a substantial risk to safety and sanitation when an inmate works around machinery and food service. The Commonwealth's testimony on this issue was that hair nets, hats and caps, Cole's proffered alternatives, could not be a total solution to this problem because, even when an inmate's hair length is within the guidelines of Directive 807, his hair still comes out of the nets on occasion. According to the Commonwealth's witnesses, hats and nets simply could not control hair that is longer than permitted by the directive. 20 The district court found this testimony incredible and viewed Directive 807 to be an exaggerated response to the Commonwealth's concerns of safety and sanitation in the prison. 21