It isn’t as if there is a chance they will win. Courts as high as the U.S. Supreme Court have ruled that states and the federal prison system are required to provide kosher food to prisoners who request them for religious reasons. Yet, a Michigan inmate has filed a federal lawsuit over the prison’s lack of kosher meals. He said in a lawsuit filed in the US District Court in Grand Rapids that he has lost 30 pounds since his imprisonment and is subsisting on a diet of vegetables, bread and cereal.
In Florida, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed an appeal on behalf of Bruce Rich an Orthodox Jewish prison inmate who has been denied a kosher diet by the Florida Department of Corrections (DOC). The DOC claims that it is denying a kosher diet in order to control costs and maintain security. However, at least thirty-five states and the federal government currently provide kosher diets without problems of cost or security. Moreover, from 2004 to 2007, the DOC provided a Jewish dietary program that cost only a fraction of one percent of its annual food budget and did not result in any security problems.
Like Forida, many states have claimed that kosher food “would break the bank,” said one distributor, but our industry has demonstrated that many strictly kosher shelf stable actually are within the state’ budget.
(Source: KosherToday)
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5 Responses
1. Most of the requests are from goyim who think the kosher food is better.
2. A non-meat diet would probably be quite healthy, and cheaper. Fruit, veggies and fiber are healthy. Once you eliminate meat and cheese from the diet, the relative cost of kashrut decline so that won’t be an argument.
3. The Jewish community should cover the marginal costs of kosher food, in part to reinforce the idea that we take responsibility for our own, and to weed out those who want kosher food for non-religious reasons.
Of course if he wouldn’t commit criminal acts and create a chilul Hashem he could always eat Kosher at home. I’m sure he could get by on fruits and vegetables etc. It’s not as if he will starve to death without special Kosher meals. Why should the state pay 1 cent more to cater to his fancies?
#2, just curious if you know why he is incarcerated? Also you sin in this world, do you want Hashem to have mercy on you in the next world? Show a little compassion to a fellow Jew
I’m sure the states have no problem providing hallal meats for muslims in jail. They should also provide kosher, as they are required to do so.
#2 nossi
Because the state has a custodial responsibility for inmates. The state can’t discriminate on the basis of religion, create an undue religious hardship, nor practice “cruel and unusual punishment.”
While it doesn’t have to let prisoners out to go to minyan (even though it is arguably a religious hardship, it is not “undue” given security concerns). The same can’t be said about food: everyone needs to be fed. The state cannot simply refuse to provide kosher food.
I don’t think that is up to any of us to decide that a particular crime is a hilul HaShem deserving of a punishment of not being allowed to have kosher food.