Youth Authority Hair Rules

A Times article (Jan. 10) described current plans by the California Youth Authority (CYA) to invoke a new grooming policy for its inmates. Included in the article was a description of the hair-style standards to be applied, standards apparently designed to make every male inmate in CYA resemble Wayne Newton.

The reasons given behind the policy were to both discourage anti-social behavior among inmates (i.e., discourage gang affiliations) and to increase the probability of their employment upon release.

I, like most people I know, place a great deal of importance on the freedom to look and dress as I choose. My spine cringes when I think about someone dictating the length and/or style of my hair. It seems clear that the CYA staff are going to induce a great deal of anger and resentment among the inmate population when they implement this new hair regulation. I do not understand the reasoning behind this emotionally costly decision.

It is no doubt true that gang members wear their hair in particular ways. It does not necessarily follow, however, that haircuts will discourage gang activity. A tattoo, a type of handshake, a code word, or even a style of walking can all serve to identify gang involvement.

Many gang members shave their heads. Is the CYA going to require a minimum as well as maximum hair length? It seems an incredible leap in logic to take a massively complex sociological problem such as gangs and turn it into an issue of grooming preferences.

As far as jobs are concerned, although it is true that a conservatively groomed person is more likely to get a job than one wearing a Mohawk (at least in most instances), it does not follow that coercing people into getting a haircut will increase their probability of employment. An individual who wants to work will do what it takes because he or she is motivated in that direction. An individual coerced into getting his or her hair cut or styled is not being motivated to find a job. He or she is simply being made to feel violated, helpless and angry.

In what has become an increasely conservative social environment, it is common to encounter the opinion that incarcerated individuals deserve whatever they get. It is important to note, however, that there is often a cost to our social indignation. A young man or woman who leaves the CYA angry and resentful from a lack of sympathetic treatment is of negative value to our society. The CYA’s new policy may come at greater cost than any of us know.

LEE A. CHANEY

Santa Barbara