Lawsuit filed over Muslim woman in Atlanta allegedly forced to remove hijab and undergo strip search

Ema Alice: A woman suing the Bartow County Sheriff’s Office said her rights—and her dignity—were violated during an arrest last year.

Ivana Elliott, 21, who is Muslim, said she was forced to remove her hijab, a religious head covering worn by women in the Muslim faith.

Elliott was arrested on misdemeanor traffic charges on April 6, 2025, and was brought to the Bartow County Jail. She said deputies forced her to remove the hijab and strip down despite what her lawsuit says is a guaranteed right to keep it on.

“I don’t know why they treated me so differently,” said Elliott. “They just took away all my values while I was in there and it was really scary.”

The lawsuit, levied against Bartow County Sheriff Clark Millsap and an unnamed detention officer, seeks to implement new training for Bartow County Jail staff and to have any recordings of Elliott’s booking—as well as her mugshot—removed and destroyed.

“The photo exists as a continuing violation and there’s that constant psychological fear of when is my right going to be violated again when this picture is shared?” Elliott’s attorney Keon Grant said. “That photo is now retained in the Bartow County Sheriff’s Office system. It can be shared with other law enforcement agencies because they often cooperate with each other and it can also be requested through the Georgia Open Records Act by any random person.”

The lawsuit leans on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a federal statute that protects religious freedom, especially for people in police custody.

“I knew that I had the freedom to be able to practice my religion and I knew what they were doing was wrong,” said Elliott. “It was just really scary experience. I didn’t know what to do.”

Elliott said that after she refused to remove her hijab and was rebuffed when she asked for the assistance of a female officer, jail staff became physical in their attempts to remove her head covering.

“I had no right to my own body,” she said. “They wouldn’t treat a regular person like they treated me. That’s why it doesn’t make sense to me.”

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