Daily Mail: Now Rastas get special treatment in prisons – followers of religion made famous by Bob Marley are allowed shakers and drums (but no marijuana)

Rastafarian inmates are being handed Bob Marley CDs, drums and shakers after their religion was officially recognised by prison chiefs. New rules mean Rastafarianism is an approved religion alongside Christianity, Islam and other major faiths. The pack has been created to ensure Rastafarian prisoners can pray together in a ‘fulsome and harmonious way’, a faith advisor said. However, the religion’s followers have been told that one common element of their religious practice is barred: they cannot smoke cannabis in jail. The change in policy came after an unnamed inmate appealed to Nigel Newcomen, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. He ruled that the Prison Service was in breach of the Equality Act 2010, and said Rastafarianism, whose followers worship Haile Selassie, the former King of Ethiopia, as God and smoke cannabis as a ‘sacrament’, should be recognised. Rastafarians are permitted four days ‘holiday’ off work in prison each year to celebrate festivals, and are given access to a ‘Rastafari Heritage Resource Pack’. More here.