The United States (US) Supreme Court has ruled that a Rastafarian will not be able to sue Louisiana prison guards who held him down and shaved his head in 2020, an act he had argued was a violation of his religious rights.

US media reports indicate that the conservative majority court, in a 6-3 decision split along party lines, ruled that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) did not entitle former inmate Damon Landor to monetary damages in the case.

The initial incident occurred when Landor was incarcerated in a Louisiana jail on a drug-related charge. Officers reportedly handcuffed him to a chair, cut his locs off and shaved his head.