Atlanta Muslim woman sues Bartow County Sheriff over hijab removal during jail booking

A 21-year-old Muslim woman from Atlanta filed a federal lawsuit against the Bartow County sheriff, claiming deputies violated her religious rights during a jail booking.

"They started surrounding me, and I like pulled off my little headscarf that like my little under cap … and they just dragged me into the cell, and they just ripped off all my clothes," said Ivana Elliott, the woman arrested.

Elliott said the events began after a traffic stop in Cartersville in April 2025. She said the situation escalated after she was taken to the Bartow County jail following the arrest.

Elliott said she wears a hijab, a religious head covering worn by many Muslim women as part of their faith.

"My religious head covering is how I represent myself to God and to be able to, like, represent myself to non-related men to me," Elliott said.

The lawsuit claims jailers forced her to remove the covering despite her religious objections.

Elliott said at one point she was left in a cell without adequate facilities.

"And they left me in there with no toilet, and they told me to pee in the hole in the ground," she said.

Elliott said the humiliation continued.

"I ended up peeing on myself. It was really, really embarrassing," she said.

Elliott said the experience was deeply traumatic.

"It just felt so bad, and I didn't know how to feel. So I just started having a panic attack," she said.

Her attorney, Keon Grant with CAIR Georgia, said the lawsuit seeks both accountability and policy changes.

"It's actually becoming very common. We're starting to see a lot more reports of this," Grant said.

Grant said cases like this can sometimes stem from a lack of clear policies.

"Smaller departments they have kind of their own ways of operating that maybe don't always follow what policy says," he said.

Elliott said one comment from a female jailer left her shocked.

"She told me that I didn't need to have my hijab on because I was not doing Ramadan anymore, so it wasn't valid anymore," Elliott said.

Elliott said she hopes the case will lead to changes, so others do not go through the same experience.

"I just want the (Bartow County Sheriff's Office) to not do stuff like this to anybody, let alone Muslim women because you shouldn't treat a woman like that let alone a Muslim person," she said.

Her attorneys have filed a motion for a preliminary injunction and are asking a judge to order the removal of Elliott's mugshot from public databases because it shows her without her head covering.

CBS News Atlanta reached out to the Bartow County Sheriff's Office and police in Cartersville for comments. Both agencies declined to comment. The Bartow County Sheriff's Department cited ongoing litigation.