Prison commissioner ordered to promote Muslim officer

PORT OF SPAIN (CMC):

A high court judge has ordered the Commissioner of Prisons, Deopersad Ramoutar, to promote a prison officer, after declaring unconstitutional, an internal prison service policy which prevented Muslim officers from wearing facial hair.

Justice Margaret Mohammed has ordered that prison officer Arshad Singh be promoted to the substantive post of prison officer II forthwith.

Singh had challenged the policy, contending that his beard was based on his religious belief as a practising Muslim. He is also to receive compensation for the breaches of his rights.

The rules prohibited prison officers from growing a beard unless they got permission from the commissioner.

In her ruling, Mohammed declared the three orders – one of which dated back to 1970 – unconstitutional, null and void. She also ordered that they be struck out.

She said also that Singh was entitled to wear his beard as a practising Muslim and ordered that he be allowed to wear it neatly groomed while on duty.

Mohammed also quashed the commissioner’s decision on September 23, 2022, not to promote Singh because of his facial hair although he was called out to receive his instrument of appointment at a promotion ceremony.

Mohammed held that no policy or procedure of the prison service can limit an individual’s rights under the Constitution.

The attorneys for the prison commissioner, had at the end of the trial conceded that the decision not to promote Singh was unreasonable. Damages were ordered to be assessed by a high court master for the reliefs automatically granted to Singh.

“In my opinion, there is no merit in the reasons which the commissioner has put forward to justify the bar on the wearing of facial hair by Muslim prison officers.

“I accept that the TTPS (Trinidad and Tobago Police Service) is entitled to make policies and procedures to instil discipline, uniformity, tidiness and cleanliness of prison officers in the conduct of their duties. Indeed such policies and procedures are laudable,” the judge said.

However, she said those policies could not limit or restrict any prison officer’s guaranteed right to practice and observe their religion, referring to other cases involving Muslim prisoners as well as police officers.

She said that while she accepted that officers and prisoners were governed by different rules, “it was absurd” that the rules allowed Muslim prisoners to wear facial hair but prohibited prison officers.