Judge backs prisoner over kosher diet

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A federal judge in Nevada has temporarily barred state prison officials from serving a new "common fare" menu to an Orthodox Jewish inmate who adheres to a kosher diet while serving a life sentence for kidnapping.

U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro also ordered the Nevada Department of Corrections to ask the other 292 prisoners who receive kosher meals whether they want to be included in the injunction she issued in Las Vegas on Friday.

She set a hearing for April 18 on whether to grant class-action status to the lawsuit filed on behalf of Howard Ackerman, 51.

Prison officials say the new "common fare" menu due out Feb. 21 will accommodate all diets regardless of religion.

But Ackerman's lawyer, Jacob Hafter, doesn't believe it will meet all the requirements to be kosher and will violate his First Amendment rights.

"The menu has sausage on it," Hafter told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "Are you kidding me?"

Those who adhere to a kosher diet do not eat pork.

Prison officials insist the menu will be kosher and say it will save the department about $1.5 million in fiscal 2013.

"There is quite a bit of funding here that could be saved," Navarro said Friday. She said the case involves serious questions and could set a legal precedent for similar cases in the future.

Hafter, an Orthodox Jew who is representing Ackerman free of charge, said he has put "several hundred hours" into the case in hopes of securing protection for all inmates who want kosher meals.

"I'm not doing this for one prisoner," he told the newspaper after Friday's hearing. "We've done this from the beginning as a case that's meant to preserve the constitutional rights of all prisoners in Nevada."

Nevada prisons house about 12,500 inmates.

According to a declaration prepared by Deborah Byberg-Reed, deputy director of support services for the Department of Corrections, the department spent about $171,000 on kosher meals in fiscal 2011 and already has spent more than $367,000 on kosher meals this fiscal year.

The projected number of inmates participating in religious-needs meals in fiscal 2013 is 559, according to the declaration.

The projected cost for providing the current kosher menu to that number of inmates in fiscal 2013 is about $3.1 million, while the projected cost of providing the common fare menu is $1.6 million.

Ackerman's lawsuit says keeping kosher is an "essential tenet" of Orthodox Judaism.

Hafter argued that the new menu will not be kosher because, among other things, it will lack rabbinic supervision.

In addition to pork, those who adhere to a kosher diet do not eat shellfish or certain birds. Also, meat and dairy products may not be eaten together. Although fruits and vegetables are kosher, they may not come into contact with non-kosher food, utensils or dishes.