LEBANON, Pa. — A Lebanon County Correctional Facility inmate whose dreadlocks violated a haircut policy has been released from solitary confinement after more than a year.
Eric McGill, Jr., 27, is currently awaiting an August trial for his alleged role in a shooting that injured four people.
McGill refused to cut his dreadlocks, per the jail's rules, and was placed in administrative segregation, also known as solitary confinement.
According to court documents, jail administrators said inmates could potentially use dreadlocks to hide weapons and contraband.
After McGill filed suit against the county in February, Lebanon County Correctional Facility changed its policy to allow a religious exemption to the ban on dreadlocks.
McGill was moved to the jail's general population on April 23, along with Leonttayy Pratt, another inmate with dreadlocks, according to the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (PILP), which is representing the two.
On May 6 a federal judge granted McGill's request to withdraw his motion for a preliminary injunction against the jail, given the rule change.
PILP is still moving ahead with a civil case against the county, saying the new rule still targets a "primarily black hairstyle" that doesn't pose a security threat.
