New York, USA - MUSLIM inmates at the Westchester County Jail are free to study the Koran and worship together. But they say that they are not able to adhere fully to their faith because county jail officials have declined to meet their demands in one area: their diet.
“Under the Koran, the food we eat must be halal,” Julio Rosa, 36, said last month in an interview with two other inmates in the jail’s visitation room. “To not have halal means going against your faith. For us, that’s not acceptable.”
Mr. Rosa is one of a group of Muslim inmates who filed individual lawsuits in federal court in Manhattan more than a year ago against the county Department of Correction, claiming that their constitutional rights to freedom of religion and equal protection are being violated.
The inmates argue that they are entitled to meat that is halal, prepared according to Islamic law, because diet is an integral part of their faith.
Rocco A. Pozzi, the county’s correction commissioner, is named in the lawsuit. He declined to comment, referring questions to the office of Andrew J. Spano, the county executive.
Susan Tolchin, Mr. Spano’s chief adviser, said the county jail provided meals that met the nutritional and religious needs of inmates. “Whether they all get the same meals or not, they all have their nutritional needs met,” she said.
Ms. Tolchin said that the jail regularly provided substitute meals without meat, in consultation with the jail’s imam, or Muslim spiritual leader, John Nashid. “The bottom line is that we gave them what they need and it is not a violation of their constitutional rights — Muslim, Hindu or Rastafarian,” Ms. Tolchin said.
She said alternative meals — like tuna casserole, fish squares, macaroni and cheese and veggie burgers — are provided regularly “to anyone who requests them.”
The inmates and their lawyers, however, say such meals are served inconsistently, at most twice a week. The Muslim inmates say they want to be treated like Jewish inmates, who receive kosher meals as often as four times a week.
When meat is not halal, it is considered unholy, or what is called “haram,” the inmates say, and at odds with the basic tenets of Islam. Mr. Rosa said the jail regularly provided Muslim inmates with haram meat.
“Observing Muslims who receive haram meat must refrain from eating it in accordance with the mandates of their faith, thus making their diet nutritionally inadequate,” said Richard B. Cohen, a lawyer representing 10 of the inmates who have sued. “It’s a Hobson’s choice; they’re either in violation of their religion or in violation of their health.”
Under Islamic dietary law, certain kinds of food and drink, like pork and alcohol, are forbidden, and food must be prepared in a certain way. Animal products, for example, must be slaughtered with an invocation to God and then drained of blood.
Kristin Zahra Sands, a professor of religious studies at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, said that even Muslims who were not particularly observant tended to adhere to the basic principle of eating meat that is halal. “For many, this is an essential component,” she said.
But, according to Professor Sands, the Koran also provides for a range of interpretation regarding acceptable substitutes. Fish or vegetarian-based diets could be suitable alternatives, particularly if condoned by a cleric or spiritual leader. “There is some leeway,” Professor Sands said.
Kosher meals would be acceptable substitutions under Muslim dietary law, but the Muslim inmates’ requests for kosher meals, Mr. Rosa said, have consistently been denied.
“Those following the Muslim religion are entitled to the same things as those following the Jewish religion,” said Mr. Nashid, who has worked at the jail for 21 years. “All we want is what we’re supposed to have.”
But the jail says that with almost three times as many Muslim inmates as Jewish, budgetary constraints limit how far it can go in meeting the demands of a multifaith population. Out of 1,571 inmates last week, 143 were Muslim and 34 were Jewish, said Anthony J. Czarnecki, the department’s chief of staff.
Ms. Tolchin said that a kosher meal costs $3.25, compared with $1.35 for a regular meal. “This is not a restaurant,” she said. “We do have the right to consider costs.”
Two and a half years ago, several of the Muslim inmates, including Mr. Rosa, went on a three-week hunger strike to protest their meals. According to court documents, the jail promised to provide an alternative diet and the inmates agreed to end their strike. The alternative meals, however, do not include halal meat, and the inmates and the jail disagree on how often those meals are served.
According to state guidelines, each of the 69 correctional centers in New York is responsible for providing meals that meet “reasonable religious dietary laws.”
At Rikers Island in New York City, Muslim inmates are served halal meat and Jewish inmates receive kosher meat, said Stephen J. Morello, a spokesman for the New York City Department of Correction. At Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, halal meals are offered on Muslim holidays and alternate, nonpork meals are offered daily, said Linda Foglia, a spokeswoman for the State Department of Correctional Services.
Courts have generally supported the “legitimate concerns” of prisoners trying to adhere to a religious code of conduct, said Michael B. Mushlin, a professor at Pace Law School who has written about and handled cases involving the rights of prisoners. “There has been a recognition that for groups such as Muslims and Orthodox Jews, food is of utmost importance, something that has cultural, sociological and all kinds of religious significance,” he said.
But not all courts agree. In 2003, Muslim prisoners in New Jersey were denied meals containing meat that was halal. And a 1997 case in New York, in which prisoners alleged discrimination because Jewish inmates received meat while Muslims did not, was dismissed. In that case, the court stated that the plaintiff had failed to show intentional discrimination.
Mr. Rosa, a former cabinetmaker and father of three, has been at the jail for three years waiting trial on federal drug-trafficking charges, according to a sworn affidavit filed as part of his lawsuit. Born and raised a Roman Catholic, he said he converted to Islam inside the prison, and “found what was missing in my life.”
“If I wasn’t sincere about this and all I wanted was to get the Kosher meal, I could have changed my religion to Jewish, but then I wouldn’t have the right to attend the Muslim services,” he said.