Please Sign This Petition To Florida Governor Jeb

[Simran9]

Vahiguroo Jee Ka Khalsa, Vahiguroo Jee Kee Fateh

Guroo Pyario Humble Benti,

Please sign this Petition to Florida Governor Jeb Bush to Stop the Forcible Cutting of Sikh's Hair

http://www.sikhcoalition.org/petition_florida.asp

Guroo Anng Sang...

Sikhs protest against forced removal of prisoner's hair

Mar 31, 2006, 19:02

In a massive campaign to safeguard the religious rights of a Sikh prisoner in the US, Sikh organisations worldwide have lodged their protest against the jail authorities' move to cut his hair against his will. The Sikh Coalition, a US-based organisation initiated the move, and a petition has been addressed to Florida Governor Jeb Bush, secretary department of corrections, James McDonough and deputy secretary of corrections, Laura Bedard, to stop federal authorities from forcibly cutting Satnam Singh's hair and removing his turban.

Satnam Singh (pictured) who is currently in a federal jail may have to face having his hair forcibly removed after he is transferred to the Florida State System Jail on April 9.

The Florida Administrative code notes, "Male inmates shall have their hair cut short to medium uniform length at all times." The section further states that "All inmates shall be clean-shaven, provided, however that an exemption from this requirement shall be granted on the basis of a medical diagnosis."

If an inmate refuses to adhere to these grooming standards, even for faith-based reasons, the officer in charge "shall direct staff to shave the inmate or cut the inmate's hair", the rules state.

As an adherent to the Sikh faith, Satnam Singh's most fundamental religious belief (rahat) is being violated by the Florida Administrative Code. Should he be forced to cut his hair and part with the most important aspect of his religious identity, this would be a large blow to Sikhs all over the world.

The petition and more details can be accessed at:

http://www.sikhcoalition.org/petition_florida.asp

Please ask your local Gurdwara and other organizations (both Sikh and non-Sikh) to co-sponsor this petition. To add an organization as a co-sponsor, we need the following information:

Name of the organization:

Address:

Contact Name:

Phone:

Email Address:

Fax:

Please return the information to:

The Sikh Coalition

P.O. Box 7132

New York, NY 10150-7132

Email: satnamsingh@sikhcoalition.org

Web: www.sikhcoalition.org

Time is of the essence on this matter. It is now critical that we act swiftly and launch this campaign without further delay as Satnam Singh is to be moved to the Florida prison on April 9, 2006.

[JagtarSinghKhalsa]

Number of signatures on the petition are increasing each day:

29 March - First 46

30 March - Another 229

31 March - Another 238

1 April - Another 270+ (day not yet complete)

Let's see if we can keep this increasing each day until 9 April.

[JagtarSinghKhalsa]

Number of signatures on the petition are increasing each day:

29 March - First 46

30 March - Another 229

31 March - Another 238

1 April - Another 270+ (day not yet complete)

Let's see if we can keep this increasing each day until 9 April.

158487[/snapback]

We need more signatures from the UK

[JagtarSinghKhalsa]

Number of signatures on the petition are increasing each day:

29 March - First 46

30 March - Another 229

31 March - Another 238

1 April - Another 270+ (day not yet complete)

Let's see if we can keep this increasing each day until 9 April.

158487[/snapback]

We need more signatures from the UK

158488[/snapback]

1 April was in the end a massive 418 signatures

Can we top 500 on 2 April?

Please pass the word around to friends and relatives

[JagtarSinghKhalsa]

Number of signatures on the petition are increasing each day:

29 March - First 46

30 March - Another 229

31 March - Another 238

1 April - Another 270+ (day not yet complete)

Let's see if we can keep this increasing each day until 9 April.

158487[/snapback]

We need more signatures from the UK

158488[/snapback]

1 April was in the end a massive 418 signatures

Can we top 500 on 2 April?

Please pass the word around to friends and relatives

158513[/snapback]

2 April 2006 - UK time: 17:45 - Already have 482 signatures, therefore should go through the 500 barrier easily.

Can we make it 600?

And even more in the days to follow!

[JagtarSinghKhalsa]

Message posted elswhere:

(New York, New York) April 1, 2006 - The Sikh Coalition is requesting urgent action to ensure a Sikh prisoner does not have his hair forcibly cut.

"I have never cut my hair in my life. For me, as a Sikh, the possibility of having my hair cut is like facing the death penalty"

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Please Take 1 Minute to Sign Our Online Petition and Ask Other People to Do So – Every time 100 people sign it, the Governor receives a notification that another 100 people have signed the petition;

Please E-mail Your Own Personal Message to the Governor and Department of Corrections – Personal messages make a difference!

Email Jeb Bush, Florida Governor

Email James McDonough, the Secretary of the Department of Corrections

Please copy satnamsingh@... on the e-mail so that we have a record of how many personal messages Florida officials receive.

Timeline of Events

Friday, March 24 - The Sikh Coalition receives a 35 page packet of information from Satnam Singh explaining that he will be transferred to a Florida state prison and that he is fearful his hair will be forcibly cut. The Coalition's Legal Director reviews the packet and determines that Satnam Singh legitimately is in danger of having his hair forcibly cut.

Monday, March 27 - The Coalition writes to the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and his General Counsel arguing that cutting Satnam Singh's hair would violate the law.

Monday, March 27 - The Coalition engages local Florida attorney and Treasurer of the Sikh Society of Florida, Arvind Singh, to rally local community support behind Satnam Singh and attempt to find him pro bono legal assistance.

Tuesday, March 28 - Arvind Singh contacts local civil rights organizations, such as the ACLU, Aleph Institute, Council on American Islamic Relations, and Florida Sikh activists to support Satnam Singh

Tuesday, March 28 - Coalition faxes a formal letter to Governor Jeb Bush, requesting he intervene in this matter

Wednesday, March 29 - The Coalition's Legal Director speaks to attorneys from the Aleph Institute and the ACLU of Florida to request their assistance.

Wednesday, March 29 - The Coalition puts together an online petition that will e-mail the Governor and the Department of Corrections every 100 times it is signed. Coalition requests Sikh organizations all over the world to join effort

Thursday, March 30 - Over 100 Sikh and non-Sikh organizations around the world respond to Coalition's request to sign petition to Governor Bush of Florida.

Thursday, March 30 - The Aleph Institute agrees to formally provide assistance on this matter.

The prisoner, Satnam Singh, is presently incarcerated at a federal prison in Ohio. He will be transferred to a Florida state prison on or after April 9, 2006. Florida prison regulations require male prisoners to cut their hair to a "medium length" and allow prison officials to forcibly cut their hair if they refuse to comply.

Urgent action is therefore needed to stop Florida prison officials from forcibly cutting his hair.

Background

Satnam Singh was convicted in federal court and Florida state court of criminal use of personal identification information, a non- violent offense. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment in Florida and a three year federal sentence. As a result of good behavior, his federal sentence has been reduced by 216 days.

At present, Satnam is housed in a low security federal prison in Youngstown, Ohio. Throughout his stay in federal prison, he has been allowed to maintain his unshorn hair neatly in his turban. He does not have a negative disciplinary record. His Federal Bureau of Prisons Progress Report states that he "approaches staff in a polite and respectful manner" and "has maintained clear conduct since his incarceration."

Satnam is scheduled to be released to a Florida state prison on or after April 9, 2006 where he will have to be submitted to having his hair cut forcibly if he refuses to voluntarily submit to having his hair cut and beard shaved completely off.

Florida's Prison Regulations and Federal Court Decision Allow Prisons to Forcibly Cut an Inmate's Hair

Florida state prison regulations, unlike the regulations of other states, requires prisoners to cut their hair and allows prison officials to forcibly cut their hair if they refuse to do so.

Chapter 33-602.101(4) of the Florida Administrative Code states that "[m]ale inmates shall have their hair cut short to medium uniform length at all times…." The section also states that "[a]ll inmates shall be clean shaven, provided, however that an exemption from this requirement shall be granted on the basis of a medial diagnosis…." If an inmate refuses to adhere to these grooming

standards, even for faith-based reasons, the officer in charge "shall direct staff to shave the inmate or cut the inmate's hair" according the Chapter 602.101(5).

In addition, in Brunskill v. Boyd, a case decided in May 2005, the federal court of appeals for the 11 th Circuit, held that a Florida prison could forcibly cut a Native American's hair even if he refused to do so for religious reasons. The court held that his hair could be cut despite the protections granted by the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) which provides the highest legal standard or protection for the religious rights of prison inmates.

Time is of the Essence

In less than ten days from now Satnam's beard could be forcibly shaved and his hair cut. We need your help now! Please take action immediately by signing our online petition and writing to the Governor of Florida and the Secretary of the Department of Corrections. Please be sure to copy satnamsingh@... on any correspondence.

Visit this website to sign the petition:-

http://www.sikhcoalition.org/petition_florida.asp

gur fateh

[JagtarSinghKhalsa]

Posted elsewhere:

Dear cyber mates,

On recieving an appeal on the internet, I have sent the below mentioned appeal like petition to the Governor of Florida. The contents of the appeal are quite clear and self explanatory. I request all my friends to take up the thread and send such mails to the Governor Florida expeditiously. Those in position may also exert their influence so that the irreperable damage is not done to the cause of Sikhism.

Relevant e mail addresses are agiven hereunder

Email Jeb Bush, Florida Governor jeb.bush@...

Email James McDonough, the Secretary of the Department of Corrections

Please copy satnamsingh@... on the e-mail so that we have a record of how many personal messages Florida officials receive.

JAGJIT SINGH

Your Excellancy,

The Governor of Florida,

USA

Respected Sir,

We have heard it with a lot of agony that a Sikh, Satnam Singh by name, has been sent to a prison in Florida to under go some sentence. Whatever be his offence and what ever be the sentence as per the law of your land. I am no one

to comment upon the same.The only thing that gives me and every Sikh who so

ever comes to know of it immense pain that as per your state Jail manual, he

cannot keep long hair while in prison.

I think by now you might have recieved innumerable mails and a lot of petitions requesting you to exempt him from this very harsh and stringent provision. I would just like to inform you that as per our religious requirements, every SIKH MUST KEEP FULL UNSHORN UNCUT HAIR FROM BIRTH TILL HIS DEATH. There are innumerable instances in our history when Sikhs, young and old, men and women and even young children opted to die and face a martyrdom, when given the option to shorn or cut the hair or accept death. Even you might be surprised to know that our one Gursikh Bhai Taru Singh, when was placed under similar situation, asked the rulers to remove his entire scalp with hair and he was brought to death in such a heinous manner. He did not allow his hair to be cut.

Those were the medieveil days and the people particularly the rulers were not

sensitive or responsive to the feelings of their subjects.

Now in the 21st century, when the entire world is virtually one and both of our nations viz, USA AND INDIA are the biggest democracies and believe in human

rights as ensrined in the UN CHARTER, I simply request YOU to rise to the occasion and direct the jail autjhorities to refrain from this inhuman act and stop hurting the sentiments and religious feelings of millions of Sikhs through out the globe.

I hope this and other similar requests shall recieve a positive consideration at your end.

Yours sincerely

JAGJIT SINGH

M.A.; M.Com; LL.B.

AUTHOR: THE SIKH TREE

[JagtarSinghKhalsa]

Number of signatures on the petition are increasing each day:

29 March - First 46

30 March - Another 229

31 March - Another 238

1 April - Another 270+ (day not yet complete)

Let's see if we can keep this increasing each day until 9 April.

158487[/snapback]

We need more signatures from the UK

158488[/snapback]

1 April was in the end a massive 418 signatures

Can we top 500 on 2 April?

Please pass the word around to friends and relatives

158513[/snapback]

2 April 2006 - UK time: 17:45 - Already have 482 signatures, therefore should go through the 500 barrier easily.

Can we make it 600?

And even more in the days to follow!

158550[/snapback]

In 30 minutes the number has risen to 550 signatures - great effort!

[JagtarSinghKhalsa]

Number of signatures on the petition are increasing each day:

29 March - First 46

30 March - Another 229

31 March - Another 238

1 April - Another 270+ (day not yet complete)

Let's see if we can keep this increasing each day until 9 April.

158487[/snapback]

We need more signatures from the UK

158488[/snapback]

1 April was in the end a massive 418 signatures

Can we top 500 on 2 April?

Please pass the word around to friends and relatives

158513[/snapback]

2 April 2006 - UK time: 17:45 - Already have 482 signatures, therefore should go through the 500 barrier easily.

Can we make it 600?

And even more in the days to follow!

158550[/snapback]

In 30 minutes the number has risen to 550 signatures - great effort!

158557[/snapback]

19:00 UK time We have exceeded 600 signatures on 2 April

At this rate likely to top 700 signatures.

[Trust1]

1537 SIGNATURES!!!