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A prison can require an Orthodox Jewish prison inmate to keep his beard short, a federal judge ruled.

U.S. District Court Judge Steven McAuliffe in Concord, N.H., ruled Aug. 27 that prison inmates do not have a First Amendment right to grow a beard, rejecting Orthodox Jewish inmate Albert Kuperman’s claim.

In his ruling the judge said that anything longer than the maximum one-quarter inch allowed by prison officials in Concord, which helps to identify prisoners easily, would require more invasive searches.

Kuperman, 25, is serving a seven-year sentence for child molesting and is eligible for parole in January. He challenged the prison in court last year after he was removed from a kosher diet when he was caught eating nonkosher food. — jta