Muslim woman who was required to remove hijab for booking photo reaches settlement with Rutherford County

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Sophia Johnston, a Muslim woman who was required to remove her hijab and be photographed without it for a booking photo, has reached a settlement with Rutherford County.

Johnston’s attorney, Daniel Horwitz, said Rutherford County has agreed to pay Johnston $100,000. County officials will also update the county’s booking and jail policies to accommodate religious attire, and agreed to delete Johnston’s booking photos and all video footage depicting her without her hijab.

In August 2023, Johnston sued the Rutherford County Sheriff and deputies after they reportedly forced her to remove her hijab for a booking photo.

The complaint said Johnston was pulled over in Wilson County for a broken tail light. As officers reviewed Johnston’s background information, they found an outstanding warrant related to a 6-year-old misdemeanor charge for driving with a suspended license out of Rutherford County.

Authorities at the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office allowed Johnston to take two booking photos: the first without her hijab that officers said wouldn’t be publicly available, and the second with her hijab to function as her official booking photo.

However, she had a different experience at the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office.

“One of the officers told me, okay, as long as I take my fingerprints and my photo, then I can leave. So I said, ‘Okay,’ and she said, ‘Well, I don’t think you’ll be able to wear your hijab inside the picture,’” Johnston claimed.

Johnston said she pleaded with the officer to respect her faith, but was still told she needed to remove her hijab because people sometimes use religion as an excuse to pretend to be someone they’re not.

“I’m just feeling so humiliated and just scared and alone and, you know, naked basically, because that’s how Muslim it feels with our hijab,” she said.

She said she was warned she would be detained for an unspecified period of time if she didn’t take the booking photo, and as a mother of eight children, that was not an option.

Johnston ended up removing the hijab in front of the female deputy for the photo, but male officers saw her before she put it back on.