Though no federal law mandates the practice, state prisons make their own rules. In fact, the Federal Bureau of Prisons does not require head shaving for incarcerated people, and they can choose how they want to wear their hair and even have it long as long as they keep it clean and hygienic. However in South Carolina, for instance, after a man's head is shaved upon intake, during his years in incarceration he can not grow it out past an inch long, according to that state's department of corrections.
Still, there are a few practical reasons people have their heads shaved behind bars in some legal systems. In close-quarter prison settings, shaved heads help prevent the spread of lice and cut down on other hygiene issues, The Virginian-Pilot writes. Illicit items like drugs and weapons can also be hidden in long hair and beards, and a distinctive hairstyle or facial hair can provide an easy means for imprisoned people to change their appearance should they escape.
Speaking with NBC News, New York State Corrections Department head Harold Clarke said in 2011, "We're not doing it just because we can. It's been done because it raises some security issues and concerns."
Head shaving is just one aspect of how some prison systems take a person out of society and work to mold them into their new roles as people whose names are replaced by numbers. The various rigors of prison intake are the first steps in forcing people convicted of serious crimes to emotionally and psychologically adjust to their new life of incarceration.
