A Muslim woman who sued Warren County Jailer Stephen Harmon and Deputy Jailer Brooke Lindsey Harp is due to receive $25,000 as part of the settlement of a lawsuit in which she alleged her civil rights were violated as an inmate.

The woman, a Bowling Green resident who filed the lawsuit anonymously as Jane Doe in November in U.S. District Court, alleged she was made to remove her hijab when her booking photo was taken after her arrest on April 6, 2023, on a felony charge of second-degree assault.

In addition to the payment, the terms of the settlement call for the woman to publicly retract one of the main complaints from her lawsuit, an allegation that a strip-search that was conducted of her was broadcast over a video monitor in the facility.

Attorneys for Harmon and Harp have said that no cameras were in the room in which the strip-search took place and that the jail does not broadcast video footage of searches.

A statement provided by attorney Matthew Cook, representing Harmon and Harp, contains the retraction in the settlement agreement.

“My attorneys and I have received verification that the strip search was never livestreamed or broadcasted. The jail’s inmate dressing room is the room where the search occurred, and it does not contain security cameras or recording devices,” the text of the retraction reads. “The television monitor outside the room does not and could not broadcast or livestream footage from inside the camera-less dressing room. Therefore, my attorneys and I retract any and all statements and allegations that my strip search was filmed and/or projected on a television screen in the jail lobby for public observation. This did not occur, and we retract any prior statements to the contrary.”

The plaintiff was described in the lawsuit as a refugee from Bosnia, a lifelong Muslim and married mother of two who works in Bowling Green as a medical assistant.

She claimed to wear a hijab – a headscarf worn by Muslim women that covers their hair and neck – as well as an abaya, a long-sleeved, full-length dress in observance of religious practice that calls for women to dress modestly.

Doe said that during the booking process she was made to take off her hijab for her booking photo, alleging in the lawsuit that employees said it was the jail’s policy to photograph inmates without head coverings.

“Her hijab is a pillar of her religious practice and integral to her identity as a Muslim woman,” attorney Lena Masri of the Council for American-Islamic Relations said in the lawsuit. “Appearing in public without hijab or being photographed without wearing hijab and having that photo available to the public is a serious breach of Mrs. Doe’s faith and a deeply humiliating and defiling experience in conflict with her sincerely held religious beliefs.”

While the lawsuit was pending, Harmon ordered the removal of the booking photo from the jail’s website and its records and notified the Bowling Green Police Department, Kentucky State Police, Kentucky Department of Corrections and the FBI to remove the photo from their databases.

As part of the settlement, the jail will amend its policy for inmate booking so that inmates will not be required to remove religious head coverings for their booking photo as long as their facial features are clearly visible.

Inmates must remove any religious head coverings to allow for jail staff to search their heads during the booking process, with the search to be conducted outside the presence of members of the opposite sex.

After the search, the head covering may be placed back on for the remainder of the booking process if the inmate requests it.

Cook said in a statement that the settlement was reached only after Doe agreed to publicly retract her allegations about the strip-search, which was conducted in a private room by Harp.

Cook said there is no admission of liability or wrongdoing by Harmon or Harp, and that the settlement was a “business decision made by the county and its liability insurer because of the continuing cost of litigation.”

The county’s insurer will pay the $25,000.

“From the outset of the case, we vigorously defended Warren County, Jailer Harmon, his staff and their interests with a very strong motion to dismiss which resulted in the plaintiff voluntarily dropping nearly all of her claims,” Cook said in an e-mailed statement. “In addition, we were able to secure a public retraction of false allegations regarding the search of the plaintiff. That retraction was very important because the allegations made had no basis in fact. The retraction provides a necessary vindication to Jailer Harmon and his staff who work diligently to provide a safe facility that operates in a nondiscriminatory manner. The revision to the booking policy reaffirms that commitment and will provide clarity to help jail staff handle future issues involving the religious beliefs and practices of incoming inmates.”