Updated: Oct. 18, 2021, 6:10 p.m. | Published: Oct. 18, 2021, 6:10 p.m.
Fencing outside the Michigan Department of Corrections' Muskegon Correctional Facility and the Ernest C. Brooks Correctional Facility (or E.C. Brooks) in Muskegon on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. (Cory Morse | MLive.com)Cory Morse | MLive.com
By Gus Burns | fburns@mlive.com
A recent federal court ruling ensures Michigan prisoners who practice Judaism will receive holiday cheesecake behind bars.
A 2013 lawsuit filed by prisoners Gerald Ackerman and Mark Shaykin on behalf of all Jewish inmates claimed the Michigan Department of Corrections deprived them of their right to practice their religion by not supplying kosher meat and dairy during certain holidays.
“Their religious beliefs require them to eat a meal with kosher meat and a meal with dairy on the Jewish Sabbath and four Jewish holidays,” said the Oct. 12 opinion of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals written by U.S. Circuit Court Judge Baylor Nalbandian. “They also believe that they must eat cheesecake on the holiday of Shavuot to celebrate the holiday properly.”
“Kosher” is a term that signifies food is compliant with Jewish rules interpreted from the Torah by rabbis. In modern times, that means, among many other guidelines, that meat comes from split-hooved mammals that chew cud or fish that have removable scales, and that the source animals were slaughtered in accordance with certain rituals.
The Michigan Department of Corrections has taken measures to comply with the dietary needs of various religions. For example, during the month of Ramadan, when fasting Muslims can’t eat or drink during daylight hours, prisoners are provided special pre-dawn and dusk “fasting bags,” said MDOC spokesman Chris Gautz.
U.S. District Judge Linda Parker, following a one-day trial in 2019, sided with the Jewish prisoners and ordered the MDOC to submit an agreement to feed prisoners dairy products and kosher meat on certain days.
Parker also agreed that prisoners should be allowed cheesecake on Shavuot, based on claims that it’s part of the celebratory ritual of the religious holiday.
That settlement agreement has been in place for nearly two years while the MDOC has appealed the ruling, said attorney Dan Manville, who directs the Civil Rights Clinic at Michigan State University College of Law and represented the plaintiffs.
“We technically got everything, but the MDOC being their usual sick self, rather than giving them regular cheesecake, what they’re giving them is a nondairy pudding without the Graham cracker crust,” Manville said. “Now, on Saturday, the Jewish inmates -- not the Muslims or anybody else like that -- they can not get their milk, but Jewish inmates can. And at dinnertime, they will feed them chicken bologna.”
Attorneys for the MDOC have questioned the authenticity of Jewish prisoners’ religious piety.
“Although Ackerman and Shaykin can buy meat and dairy products from the commissary, they have chosen instead to spend their money on things like hygiene products, popcorn, and coffee (used for bartering in violation of prison policy),” the court noted in its opinion. “And their purchases have not been insignificant in relation to their low wages and the cost of meat and dairy products. Ackerman regularly spends over $40 each month. And Shaykin has made multiple purchases over $100.”
The prisoners argued that the commissary items wouldn’t fulfill their religious obligations, since commissary items aren’t allowed in the cafeteria at meal times.
The appeals court opinion said Jewish prisoners were provided special kosher meals with meat up until 2013, when the kosher option became limited to vegan food. Kosher meat was removed from the regular menu, but still offered for purchase in the commissary, the prison store, in the form of beef sticks or chicken sausage.
Gautz said the ruling that called the MDOC defense “unpersuasive” means prisoners will be supplied kosher meat on Saturdays, the Jewish sabbath, and four holidays, including Shavuot, which is a celebration of Jewish scripture, the Torah. The prisoners will be fed cheesecake for breakfast during the holiday.
Often, when a group of people is granted religious accomodations, such as cheesecake for the Jewish prisoners or pre-dawn lunch bags for Muslims, others will claim a religion to partake in the mealtime perks, according to Gautz.
“There were prisoners who said they were fasting and also went to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, just for extra food,” Gautz said. “So we deal with those things from time to time, but we’re certainly going to adhere to the ruling.”
The settlement agreement requires that any inmate who wants to be assigned the Jewish diet stick to a kosher meal plan for 60 days prior.
Article (and Archive)
Fencing outside the Michigan Department of Corrections' Muskegon Correctional Facility and the Ernest C. Brooks Correctional Facility (or E.C. Brooks) in Muskegon on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. (Cory Morse | MLive.com)Cory Morse | MLive.com
By Gus Burns | fburns@mlive.com
A recent federal court ruling ensures Michigan prisoners who practice Judaism will receive holiday cheesecake behind bars.
A 2013 lawsuit filed by prisoners Gerald Ackerman and Mark Shaykin on behalf of all Jewish inmates claimed the Michigan Department of Corrections deprived them of their right to practice their religion by not supplying kosher meat and dairy during certain holidays.
“Their religious beliefs require them to eat a meal with kosher meat and a meal with dairy on the Jewish Sabbath and four Jewish holidays,” said the Oct. 12 opinion of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals written by U.S. Circuit Court Judge Baylor Nalbandian. “They also believe that they must eat cheesecake on the holiday of Shavuot to celebrate the holiday properly.”
“Kosher” is a term that signifies food is compliant with Jewish rules interpreted from the Torah by rabbis. In modern times, that means, among many other guidelines, that meat comes from split-hooved mammals that chew cud or fish that have removable scales, and that the source animals were slaughtered in accordance with certain rituals.
The Michigan Department of Corrections has taken measures to comply with the dietary needs of various religions. For example, during the month of Ramadan, when fasting Muslims can’t eat or drink during daylight hours, prisoners are provided special pre-dawn and dusk “fasting bags,” said MDOC spokesman Chris Gautz.
U.S. District Judge Linda Parker, following a one-day trial in 2019, sided with the Jewish prisoners and ordered the MDOC to submit an agreement to feed prisoners dairy products and kosher meat on certain days.
Parker also agreed that prisoners should be allowed cheesecake on Shavuot, based on claims that it’s part of the celebratory ritual of the religious holiday.
That settlement agreement has been in place for nearly two years while the MDOC has appealed the ruling, said attorney Dan Manville, who directs the Civil Rights Clinic at Michigan State University College of Law and represented the plaintiffs.
“We technically got everything, but the MDOC being their usual sick self, rather than giving them regular cheesecake, what they’re giving them is a nondairy pudding without the Graham cracker crust,” Manville said. “Now, on Saturday, the Jewish inmates -- not the Muslims or anybody else like that -- they can not get their milk, but Jewish inmates can. And at dinnertime, they will feed them chicken bologna.”
Attorneys for the MDOC have questioned the authenticity of Jewish prisoners’ religious piety.
“Although Ackerman and Shaykin can buy meat and dairy products from the commissary, they have chosen instead to spend their money on things like hygiene products, popcorn, and coffee (used for bartering in violation of prison policy),” the court noted in its opinion. “And their purchases have not been insignificant in relation to their low wages and the cost of meat and dairy products. Ackerman regularly spends over $40 each month. And Shaykin has made multiple purchases over $100.”
The prisoners argued that the commissary items wouldn’t fulfill their religious obligations, since commissary items aren’t allowed in the cafeteria at meal times.
The appeals court opinion said Jewish prisoners were provided special kosher meals with meat up until 2013, when the kosher option became limited to vegan food. Kosher meat was removed from the regular menu, but still offered for purchase in the commissary, the prison store, in the form of beef sticks or chicken sausage.
Gautz said the ruling that called the MDOC defense “unpersuasive” means prisoners will be supplied kosher meat on Saturdays, the Jewish sabbath, and four holidays, including Shavuot, which is a celebration of Jewish scripture, the Torah. The prisoners will be fed cheesecake for breakfast during the holiday.
Often, when a group of people is granted religious accomodations, such as cheesecake for the Jewish prisoners or pre-dawn lunch bags for Muslims, others will claim a religion to partake in the mealtime perks, according to Gautz.
“There were prisoners who said they were fasting and also went to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, just for extra food,” Gautz said. “So we deal with those things from time to time, but we’re certainly going to adhere to the ruling.”
The settlement agreement requires that any inmate who wants to be assigned the Jewish diet stick to a kosher meal plan for 60 days prior.
Article (and Archive)
