A Chicago appeals court revived a lawsuit by ex-inmate Omar Grayson against Harold Schuler, an official at Big Muddy Correctional Center in Illinois who required Grayson to cut his hair. Grayson claimed the haircut violated his right to practice his religion.

Schuler ordered the dreadlocks cut in 2008 on grounds that they posed a security threat, but did not explain why. Grayson, a member of the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem, refused to comply ad was sent to the prison’s segregation unit.