A Jewish inmate at the federal prison for women in Danbury Connecticut is suing the prison over limits placed on items Jewish prisoners can buy for Pesach.
WNBC reports: Agnes Kole wants prison officials to allow the purchase of Kosher-for-Pesach foods such as chicken, gefilte fish and smoked salmon.
Kole claims the prison has cut back the Pesach purchase list from 12 items to just five including matzohs, grape juice, two kinds of chocolate and macaroons.
She’s told a federal judge that the cutbacks are retaliation because she successfully complained last year when the prison cut the amount Jewish inmates could spend on Pesach food purchases.
The judge is expected to continue the hearing on Monday. Pesach begins April 19.”
(Source: WNBC)
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31 Responses
Another Chillul Hashem. What is wrong with Matzos, etc.? Did the Jews leaving Egypt have it any better?
She should be more concerned with getting a Rambam Hilchos Teshuva.
I know I will be heavily criticized for what I’m about to say. So bring it on!
Although prisoners have rights and although some people are wrongfully incarcerated and although a yid is a yid and although the prison wardens are animals…….
It frustrates me to see prisoners who supposedly committed a crime (whether or not its true, its true in the eyes of the public) publicize their desire to be as meticulous as possible in their mitzva observance. Is there a possibility that their rights can be served Shtill Aheit without a lawsuit, thru a chaplain or something? Remember there is always the Chillul H-shem aspect when these stories hit the news.
I’m not Chas V’shalom advocating being anything less than 100% observant just if you can’t get everything you want exactly how you want it see if it can be done without fanfare.
Get the basics ,enough to fulfil the mitzvohs.Is she selling her chometz? Or is she only concerned about getting ‘cultural’foods? She should be allowed everything needed to observe the YomTov but no extras or luxuries. Don’t be a criminal,don’t go to jail. this is a free country. If you behave,you need not fear being deprived. In jail,it’s not like in a hotel.
Dear All,
I am a liaison for the jewish inmates at a Federal Prison. I received multiple complaints from the Chaplain that the Jewish inmates take advantage by telling him things that they can’t do which in reallity is not a problem. i.e. the Satmar people complained that it is forbidden to eat Lubavitch shmura matzos on peasach and vise versa. Now, come on… After that I received a phone call from the Warden stating that if the jews don’t stop that behavior, he will take “all” religious privliges away from them.
Lets make this clear. There are very few people currently in prision that did no crime. These people should be lucky that they are allowed to bring their tefillin and sforim with them. They should also be thankful that the prison allows them to make 2 sedorim pesach nights, and give each of them arba minim on Succos. ( all paid for by the prison).
Therfore, I am not so sure what that prisoner is saying is 100% correct. This needs to be verified by an attorney and not by the pubic)
I am sure pretty shortly these inmates will ask for their families to join them for YOM TOV & why not its part of Simchas Yom Tov & will ask the Gov. to supply them with accommodations & sleeping arrangements for their families & why not they are entitled to everything & anything as they are living in the greatest democracy on the globe.
Shame on you all! All that you could do would have been to show a little bit “nosei b’ol” with a fellow Jew(ess) who IS SUFFERING IN INCARCERATION
Speaking from experience, the federal prison system provides and/or allows for purchase enough kosher items. Does she get “common fare”? Are her religious beliefs respected? Why is she the only one complaining. She is not the first observant(and i use that lightly) to be in Danbury.
Where I was, the chaplain (A Lubavitch Rabbi) delivered matzoh, wine, portable succahs, lulavim, etc and whatever was necessary for any yom tov.
Again, speaking from experience, if you did the crime, you pay the time. I did!
i’m in shock how can jews be so heartless to a yidishe girl in prison it makes no diffrence why she is there a little RACHMONUS please
its no picknic to be in jail contrary to common belief jail is gehenom on this world
we should be more worried if we kept the mitzvah of pidyon shevuim than anything else
מי שאמר לעולמו די יאמר לצרתינו די
Why can’t they be allowed the basics in kosher food, including chicken or fish? The non Jewish inmates can eat whatever they want from the prison fare and although the Jewish inmates may or may not have committed a crime, they should be allowed to have a balanced kosher diet all the time.(I don’t know about smoked salmon being a basic necessity though.)
P.S. It says they would purchase the food, so if the gov’t. doesn’t have to pay for it, why can’t they buy what they want?
matzo / grape juice / maror – required
chicken – ok
smoked salmon??? when did that become a requirement???
TO DaasTorahWtchdg, Maybe you should go visit & bring him/her a full Pesach order with all the trimmings & if you are short in funds go to any Kimcha Depischa.
Better yet you should spend some of your time visiting these inmates on Chol Hamoed as its a big Mitzvah.
Since you so emotional about these Prisoners you should organize a group for regular visits.
Dear DaasTorahWtchdg –
Are you visiting her at least?
#6 – Come On! she is a CRIMINAL – if you would do a little research she was a drug trafficker who was smuggling heroin into the country and it wasnt her first offense either! All of a sudden she is gonna be frum on everyone else’s watch, please! She should be happy she is getting Pesachdike food anyways! Maybe before you commit a crime you should think about these things!
they are serving time for the crime. does that mean that they can’t be or become frum??
google AGNES KOLE.I think your sympathies will change
zumbalistas:
Why do you sound proud of your experience?
What has the Jewish world come to? Sheesh
There are, unfortunately, a number of Jews behind bars. Shall we have a
negative attitude toward them and then expect them to become good Jews
and members of society when they come out? There is a story I heard
from the Rabbi Reisman Nach shiur (which is beamed to many locations,
incl Wash Hts) that a famous rov in Czarist Russia (a Soloveitchik, I
believe) who made great efforts to help a Jew thrown into prison by the
Czarist regime for subversive activities which actually had endangered
the Jewish community. This despite that the man was a secular
trouble-maker who made problems for the Jews. Our attitude must never
be “let them rot in jail”. Perhaps the Prosecutor on high (otherwise
known as the Malach Hamoves, or Satan) may bring out our own “court
record” to inspect, and we may be found indeed wanting in the Court on
High! I have much to say on this topic because I know of someone who
had (and still has to a degree) this unfortunate experience which we
should never know of. Incidentally, people generally do not plan to
serve time in prison, and we generally don’t plan to commit “chato’im”.
I do not agree with the sentiment you expressed below. I remember Rav
Schwab’s speeches too, but we are living in different times. Jews are
serving time for many things, including crimes which we have not
associated with the Jewish People, r”l. The Aleph Institute
(http://www.alephinstitute.org/) is an organiztion which was set up by
Lubavitch to help incarcerated Jews and their families – look at their
website.
“Sholom al Yisrael (including the incarcerated!)
David ,refering to this report that
>> A Jewish inmate at the federal prison for women in Danbury
>> Connecticut is suing the prison over limits placed on items Jewish prisoners can buy for Pesach.Agnes Kole wants prison officials to allow the purchase of Kosher-for-Pesach foods such as chicken, gefilte fish and smoked salmon, two kinds of chocolate and macaroons besides matzohs,and grape juice,
> SHE will get what she needs,otherwise,
Is she frum? Does she get rid of her chometz?
> Did she learn deena d’malchusa deena? If she had not done a crime,she’d be able to enjoy yom tov.at home. In jail,let her get all she requires by halocho to do all the mitzvohs of the chag,but no luxuries – she successfully complained last year when the prison cut the amount Jewish inmates could spend on Pesach food purchases
>.She should have thought of this before becoming a criminal.
Matzah, grape juice, macaroons and get ahold of this, TWO types of chocolate (woopie!) for eight days. Matzoh every meal, grape juice to drink and some great appetizers.
All available for her to purchase.
She may not dear buy some kosher chicken!?
I’m not sure why people can’t understand her difficulty. And to all the judges over here: do you want HaShem to be as strict with you, without providing you a chance for Teshuvah?
Post #4,
You know that there are legitimate concerns, not just politics. Your yad chazaka tactics is not what will bring HaShem to redeem us and send His Moshiach.
They actually get threee good hot meals a day but she says “this isn’t enough to feel comfortable on Passover”
For comitting a crime one has the right to feel ‘comfortable’ in jail??!!
Many of the above different comments have strong validity. To incorporate the right balance my take on this is: No doubt she is entitled to the basics to fulfill her religious needs. However, to make a big to do about it along with demands is a chillul Hashem because it highlights the obvious inherent hypocrisy of her offense versus her ‘religious’ demands. A french prison guard once said to me regarding a jewish inmate making a religious request, (I will leave out his discusting cursing vocabulary) “If this guy is so holy why did he steal”? Is that not a chillul Hashem? That does not mean to say the guy is not entitled to basics but to make demands is to highlight hypocrisy.
She’s trying to do a mitzvah. Allow her! Maybe she tried her chaplain already. Maybe if we give her encouragement she’ll even become a baalas teshuva (you never know). She may help innocent frum jews that are stuck w/o proper food too. They allowed these foods last year, so there’s really no reason this year should be any different.
Agnes Kole is a “Nigerian national accused of heading a group that brought more than 60 pounds of nearly pure heroin into the United States between November 1990 and August 1993.”
Is this woman really Jewish???
There appear to be Jews (or those claiming Jewish ancestry) in Nigeria, is she claiming to be one of the Ibo Benei Yisrael?
To yavnerd: “all the sudden shes gonna be frum…”
yeh u got a problem with that????? shes not allowed to do a little teshuvah or even if its not teshuva just cuz she had taavos in certain areas so shes not allowed to be at all frum????? in any case but urself in her shoes a little! imagine eating only matzoh, grape juice and macaroons all yuntif!!!!
She is getting everything required and is complaining? Is 2 kinds of chocolate not enough? Compare this to times in history where yidden in prisons/camps couldn’t imagine such accommodations in a prison, let alone kosher accommodations.
to levtov32: theres absolutely no reason for the sarcasm!! daastorahwchdog is completely right!! and you know what?? if your short on funds you SHOULD go to simcha d’pischa!! and it is a huge mitzvah and you will probly reap large rewards if you visit her!! i dont cared what she did wrong, frankly its none of my business or yours, and its probly loshon hora too! its between her and hashem and if we see a fellow jew suffering or even just uncomfortable from eating the same old macaroons all pesach then its a huge mitzvah of chesed and probly an additional mitzvah connected with pedyon shevuyim! again, i’m not saying shes the biggest tzadekes but thats no way to talk about another jew!!!
oh and by the way there was no emotion in daastorahw…’s comment just pure ahavas yisroel!
finally the truth: get your head out of the sand, a) in all likelyhood she is prob. not even jewish, and is using Pesach as an excuse to get more food! I fyou want to go around defending criminals… hey, good luck.
please YWN, find out if she is really Jewish. From info on the web, it doesn’t seem so. I only looked for a few minutes, but didn’t see any “Jewish” reference besides this one.
to, finally the truth, you could also take my advice & do as i told the other guy, since you are so concerned you should go & visit & also make sure to bring her the complete pesach order.
As for myself I could not care less, if you cant do the time dont commit the crime, Period.
I am very much concerned about the people who are not in prison & are conducting themselves with the guidlines of our Torah & have a very hard time making pesach ends meet & yes i myslef shell out quite a nice sum of my own to help thoes people.
During Chal Hamoed you should go vist this Creep in the Danbury Ct. prison & you should report back to all of us.
I am very proud of what i wrote & beleive everything is correct & true
hold off there!!!! As the daughter of a jewish federal prison chaplain- there are a lot of ppl who are mekariv while in prison, so yes, maybe they were found possessing narcotics or whatever, but maybe they are trying to journey back. This is not some bais yaakov who knows but ignored all the halachos- this is a troubled individual who’s trying to find her way home. leave her alone. let her have her pesach.