CYA Finds a New Way to Untangle Hair Policy

If everything had gone as planned, bearded and long-haired male inmates in the 16 California Youth Authority facilities would have been forced to get haircuts and shave or risk losing early release, home visits and other special privileges.

Then the grooming policy hit a tangle. Officials discovered that it could not be enforced because it would violate agency regulations, which could take up to a year to change.

Youngsters sporting handlebar mustaches and Van Dykes, Mohawks and punk hairdos, and even those with more conservative but longish hair, have, however, little reason to rejoice.

The Youth Authority has found a simple solution--changing its rules to allow penalties for untidy hirsuteness.

Grooming became an issue at the Youth Authority last August, when the agency sent its superintendents a new policy intended to improve the youthful offenders’ future chances for employment and to discourage “gang or delinquent subculture identification.”

For 6,000 male inmates, the policy would have meant that hair had to be trimmed to two inches or less and could not cover the collar or go below the ear. No beards would have been allowed, sideburns could have extended no farther than the bottom of the earlobe and mustaches would have had to be trimmed back to the corner of the mouth.

“Hair styles considered bizarre or anti-social (e.g. Mohawks and shaved heads) are contrary to (inmate) employability and should be discouraged,” the superintendents were told.

But late in October, only days before the policy was to have been fully enforced, the superintendents were told that the grooming policy would violate a provision of the state Welfare and Institutions Code allowing an inmate to “wear his hair, including facial hair, any length and style he desires” unless he is placed in a camp program in which long hair would present safety problems.

Until the code can be changed, a process that takes 6 to 12 months, there can be no penalties for long hair.

Last month, the agency released its proposal to strike the old regulatory language and require that all inmates “shall keep their hair clean and neatly groomed, in compliance with the standards.”

The agency has given the public until Feb. 5 to submit written comment. No one has done so.

A number of inmates, under pressure to conform to the proposed grooming standards, have filed formal protests under the Youth Authority’s grievance procedure.

Assistant Deputy Director Jim Embree noted a Youth Authority job study showing that paroled youngsters able to get jobs are the most likely to stay out of trouble. Good grooming is critical to getting jobs, he said, adding, “We’re trying to teach them that.”