MINNEAPOLIS _ A 57-year-old Muslim woman was paid $120,000 to settle a lawsuit filed against Ramsey County alleging she was forced to stand naked in front of female jailers and then made to remove her hijab for a booking photo over a traffic offense.
Aida Shyef Al-Kadi, of St. Louis Park, appeared at a news conference late Tuesday morning with her attorneys at the Minneapolis headquarters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations to announce the settlement approved late last month in U.S. District Court by Judge John Tunheim.
"It was one of the most humiliating and harmful experiences of my life," Al-Kadi said of her treatment in the jail in August 2013. "I knew that I did not want any other Muslim woman to experience what I did.
"Even though I was afraid, I wanted to pursue my rights under the Constitution of the United States. I wanted to do it in a way that would make it less likely that any other Muslim woman would experience the harm that I did."
Along with the payout, the jail has put in place specific rules about how to accommodate inmates with religious headwear during the booking photo process. They include: Allow head covering to be worn, instruct female inmates to pull back the covering to "reveal the hairline while still covering the ears," and direct the inmate to put the covering back in place before continuing with the booking process.
The county further agreed to destroy all hard copies and delete any electronic copies of Al-Kadi's booking photo.
The Sheriff's Office also must train its corrections officers on policies concerning inmates and the religious accommodations they require, including their necessary headwear. The county is not required, under the settlement, to admit to any wrongdoing.
Al-Kadi's suit argued that the county violated her constitutional rights and discriminated against her for her religious beliefs. The county moved to dismiss the suit, but Tunheim, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Minnesota, largely sided with Al-Kadi and allowed the case to proceed.
"Al-Kadi has presented sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could find deprivation of a clearly established constitutional right," Tunheim wrote in June.
Al-Kadi was born and raised in Ohio. She moved to Minnesota in 2005 so her daughter could receive specialized medical care. She said that in June 2013, she took her daughter to the hospital for an emergency, forcing her to miss a court hearing in Ramsey County over a traffic offense. The judge issued a warrant for her arrest.
In August, Al-Kadi turned herself in. She said that upon arrival at the jail, she was told to remove her hijab and abaya _ a long dress that covers her body _ in front of male jailers, violating her religious beliefs. When she objected, she was told to stop resisting before a jailer grabbed her arm and forcibly removed her from the area.
Al-Kadi was taken to a holding cell, where she removed her hijab in front of a male jailer.
When time came for her booking photo to be taken, she said she agreed to remove her hijab after being told that the picture would never be released to the public. But months later, she found it on a third-party website that charges users to take the photos down. After taking the photo, officers gave her a bedsheet to use as a hijab.
She was eventually told to remove her abaya and change into a jail uniform, while two female officers watched her. Ramsey County policy says that misdemeanor inmates such as Al-Kadi "will not be viewed without clothing," according to court records.
Al-Kadi was then placed in lock-in for her "argumentative behavior," a jailer later wrote. The next day she went before a Ramsey County judge, resolved her arrest warrant and was released.
In 2014, Ramsey County revised its jail policies to include that inmates who wear hijabs shall not be forced to remove them in front of men. A facility-approved hijab will be provided. Sheriff spokesman Roy Magnuson said bedsheets are no longer used.
