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| Kosher meal deal reached with Orthodox Jewish inmate |
| By lvrj.com - Carri Geer Thevenot |
| Published: 03/29/2012 |
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LAS VEGAS, NV -- After nearly 10 months of litigation, the Nevada Department of Corrections has reached an agreement with an Orthodox Jewish inmate who said prison officials were refusing to serve him kosher meals. "We're very appreciative that the state is working with us to try to resolve this, as opposed to spending substantial taxpayer dollars to fight prisoners' exercise of their constitutional rights," attorney Jacob Hafter said this week. Hafter represents inmate Howard Ackerman, who filed a class action lawsuit in June that accused prison officials of violating his First Amendment right to free exercise of religion. The lawsuit alleged officials had decided to stop providing kosher food options, and Ackerman filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order. At a hearing a few days later, attorneys involved in the case said they had reached an agreement that eliminated the need for a restraining order. But that detente ended in January, when Ackerman filed an amended lawsuit. The following month, U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro issued an injunction that barred the department from serving its new "common fare" menu to Ackerman. She also ordered the department to ask the 292 other prisoners who were receiving kosher meals whether they wanted to be included in the injunction. Hafter said 262 people asked to be included. Prison officials insisted the new menu would be kosher and said it would save the department about $1.5 million in fiscal 2013. Hafter said it would not be kosher because it lacked rabbinic supervision. The state appealed Navarro's decision on the injunction to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco but later stayed the appeal. Read More. |
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