What do you think? Should a judge hear this inmates case?

http://news.yahoo.com/ohio-muslim-inmates-sue-over-meal-preparation-152909933.html

Quote :

Ohio Muslim inmates sue over meal preparation
By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS - AP Legal Affairs Writer | AP – Mon, Oct 3, 2011



COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A Muslim death row inmate says the Ohio prison system is denying him meals prepared according to Islamic law while at the same time providing kosher meals to Jewish prisoners, according to a federal lawsuit that alleges a civil rights violation.

The state said Monday that it has already removed pork from its menus in response to the lawsuit brought by condemned inmate Abdul Awkal, who argues the prison system's failure to provide halal meals is a restraint on his religious freedoms.

Awkal, joined by a second inmate not on death row, says the vegetarian and non-pork options offered by the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction aren't good enough. The inmates say food must be prepared in specific fashion, such as ensuring that an animal is butchered by slitting its throat and draining its blood, to conform to Islamic beliefs.

"The issue of eating Halal meals is especially important to me because I face a death sentence," Awkal said in a filing in federal court earlier this year. "It is important to me that I follow the requirements of my faith as I approach death."

The state's recent decision to drop pork from all meals accommodates religious preferences without jeopardizing security, said Carlo LoParo, spokesman for the state corrections department. It "eliminates any doubt that Muslims or any inmate who has a specific prohibition against pork products receives pork inadvertently or otherwise," he said.

"It's a concession that we can make that doesn't compromise other aspects of our operation," he said.

But Monday's announcement doesn't solve that meat isn't slaughtered in the appropriate way for Muslim inmates who adhere to religious tradition, said David Singleton, executive director of the Ohio Justice and Policy Center, which brought the lawsuit on Awkal's behalf. He said the lawsuit will continue.

A judge has given lawyers and inmates for the state until next month to finish filing documents bolstering their arguments, ahead of an expected January trial.

Awkal, 52, is scheduled to die in June for killing his estranged wife, Latife Awkal, and brother-in-law Mahmoud Abdul-Aziz in 1992, in a room in Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court.

Joining Awkal in the lawsuit is Cornelius Causey, 35, serving 15 years to life for murder and aggravated robbery convictions out of Hamilton County.

Ohio argues that it provides both non-pork and vegetarian meals to Muslims and says the courts have sided with this practice. The state also says that providing halal meals could hurt Ohio financially, given the current budget situation.

"The complete restructuring of ODRC's food service administration and preparation, at a cost of millions to the State of Ohio during fiscal crisis, is at stake," Ryan Dolan, an assistant attorney general, argued in a court filing.

Ohio included in its response to the lawsuit a document from a Muslim who does regular spiritual counseling of Muslim inmates.

While Imam Sunni-Ali Islam said he thought it was problematic that Ohio provided kosher but not halal meals, he said he doesn't think it rises to the level of religious discrimination.

The state's prison guidelines for Jewish prisoners say, "The Department will accommodate kosher dietary restrictions to recognized Jewish inmates." Kosher guidelines also address proper ways to slaughter animals and prepare meat.

For Muslim inmates, prison rules say, "The diet will be free of all pork and products containing or derived from pork. The institution will provide nutritionally adequate meat and non-meat alternatives."

Ohio spends about $3.50 to $7 on kosher meals compared to $1.70 for regular meals, LoParo said. He would not comment on the lawsuit itself beyond documents filed in support of the state position.

California provides packaged kosher meals to Jewish inmates and halal meals prepared at prisons for Muslim prisoners. Meats used for the halal meals are cooked separately from other prison food, said spokesman Paul Herke.

The state serves about 4,100 halal meals a day at a cost of about $3.50 per day, compared with about $2.90 a day for regular prison meals.

"We would consider that a pretty nominal difference," Herke said.

Arizona provides vegetarian and other options to satisfy the halal requirement but does not provide meals specifically dubbed halal.

Similarly, Muslim inmates in Texas can select regular, meat-free or pork-free meals but are not served halal meals. Massachusetts serves both kosher and halal meals.

Ohio says requiring halal meals could mean new dietary plans for as many as 2,000 inmates, while Awkal's lawyers believe the figure is lower because not all Muslims eat halal meals.

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Andrew Welsh-Huggins can be reached at http://twitter.com/awhcolumbus.

In general, I would say yes. A person convicted of a crime should still be able to practice their religion if it doesn't pose a threat to COs or other inmates but in an even broader sense I think it smacks of hypocrisy that people who didn't want to follow the prohibitions of their faith against committing murder or stealing, should now be so concerned that they're going to hell because their food isn't prepared just so. Which is too fucking ridiculous in itself. But then again, I wouldn't doubt that in his mind, the Muslim on death row in OH feels that he was morally justified for killing his wife and her brother and shouldn't have been arrested in the first place.

Well, yeah...if they're going to provide kosher meals, they should provide halal meals. Perhaps he'll get an authentic one for his last meal. But who cares. They're about to execute his ass anyway. Shouldn't have killed his wife.

Why should special food be prepared? Screw that! We won't force them to eat the foods they don't like. I doubt menus typically consist solely of foods that violate their belief so they can just fast if they don't like the menu that night. Sorry, but the idea that you should get meals prepared in a special way in jail is absurd. If you ain't being forced to eat a food that specifically violates your beliefs, shut up and sit down. You're in JAIL!

After reading all the posts I am still scratching my head. I like Alan Smithee's post the best. Serving Kosher food pretty well throws ammunition into the fire for every other joker in prison.

But this guy has been getting his non-pork food. Picky about how it's slaughtered? He can eat shit instead.

I can't help but imagine that if I were on death row, foods preparation in accordance to ideology would be the furthest thing on my mind.