LOS ANGELES – Proposed regulations by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that deny American indigenous inmates access to numerous religious items need to be rejected, the ACLU of California said in a comment letter sent late yesterday.

Under an agreement just reached by the ACLU of Southern California (ACLU/SC) and the County of Orange, the county will no longer require observant Muslim women in Orange County Sheriff’s Department custody to remove religious head coverings in full view of male officers, and will provide temporary headscarves for them to wear while they are in custody.

Today, attorneys representing American Muslims responded to a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Cormac Carney granting a Department of Justice request to dismiss their civil rights lawsuit against the FBI.  Although the Court’s ruling dismissed the lawsuit against the FBI, it permits the suit to go forward against the individual government agents under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Imane Boudlal, former employee of the Storytellers Café at Disney’s California Adventure, filed suit today in federal court against the company for harassment and religious discrimination because she is a North African Arab and a Muslim. 

Officials at California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s North Kern State Prison (NKSP) will no longer limit the access of Muslim inmates to pray, wear specific articles of religious clothing or prohibit them from obtaining prayer oils.  An official with the attorney general’s office announced the change in policy yesterday in a letter to the ACLU of Southern California (ACLU/SC).