From Truthout:
In July 2020, when COVID-19 was wreaking havoc in prisons all over the country, Musa Bey was locked up in an Arizona prison. In the main wing of the prison, a couple of people contracted COVID. Instead of separating them to a different wing, prison officials kept them where they could infect others. So, Bey and five others spoke with the staff and conveyed that they felt unsafe living in close confinement with prisoners who had tested positive for COVID. Bey told them that he preferred to be moved to a closed facility that had cells instead of dorms. But prison officials interpreted this communication as a sign of the prisoners rebelling and decided to move them to a different, higher security facility called the Browning Unit.
As they were preparing to transfer them, they lined them up against the wall. “Prison officials started making a lot of comments,” said Bey. “Like, you guys think you’re all this, you think you’re all that. I don’t know what we’ll do to all you in here. Ain’t no cameras here, they can’t see us.”
Then, when Bey least expected it, the guards chained him, grabbed some clippers and shaved his beard off. “I said to him, look I’m a Muslim, don’t shave my beard, and they proceeded to shave the beard off forcefully,” said Bey. Continue reading >>>
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