A federal judge in the Central District of California on April 13 granted a preliminary injunction barring the Orange County Sheriff's Department from maintaining booking images of two Muslim women without their hijabs in any manner accessible to men, and from releasing the images publicly, in a case brought under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.
Plaintiffs Salma Nasoordeen and Aini sued the County of Orange on June 30, 2025, after they were arrested and booked in May 2024. In their motion for a preliminary injunction, plaintiffs argued that defendants violated their religious freedom "by forcing them to remove their hijabs, recording photos and potentially video, and maintaining those images accessible to men."
At the time of the bookings, OCSD policy provided that "[r]eligious head coverings may not be worn during the booking photo process." OCSD has since revised the policy to allow detainees to keep their religious headwear during booking, "in a manner that allows the inmate's face to be fully visible."
Applying the four-factor Winter test, the court found plaintiffs likely to succeed on the merits of their RLUIPA claim. It held that the booking practice imposed a substantial burden on plaintiffs' religious exercise, noting testimony that Nasoordeen was told the faster she complied with hijab removal, "the faster she could be released." The court rejected defendants' argument that RLUIPA no longer applied because plaintiffs were out of custody, finding that "the availability of these images and videos stem from the initial violation."
On the least-restrictive-means inquiry, the court ruled that defendants had not shown they "actually considered and rejected the efficacy of least restrictive measures before adopting the challenged practice." It pointed to OCSD's own updated policy and to policies from other law enforcement agencies permitting religious head coverings in booking photos as evidence that less restrictive alternatives existed.
The court found irreparable harm based in part on continued access by male OCSD personnel to the images. Assistant Sheriff Nathan Wilson stated in a declaration that "the Sheriff's Department does not provide booking photographs to the public in response to informal requests or even a formal Public Records Act request," but the court observed that OCSD retains legal discretion to release such images on its own site or in response to Public Records Act requests.
On the balance of equities, the court rejected the county's claim that injunctive relief would compromise the evidentiary value of inmate records, noting that defendants argued both that the images are not used in routine practice and that redacting them would impair their value. "Defendants cannot have it both ways," the order said.
The order requires defendants to redact the hair, neck, and ears in the images and restrict access to the originals to "the necessary members of the trial teams." Defendants must update the court within seven days on compliance steps, and plaintiffs may respond within five days thereafter. The court did not require plaintiffs to post a bond.