Passed Over
An advocacy group says Michigan makes it difficult
for Jewish prisoners to observe Passover.
JULIE EDGAR SENIOR WRITER
ew of Michigan's Jewish
prison inmates will be able
to properly observe Passover
— and that's part and par-
cel of a longstanding pattern of re-
ligious discrimination, says a
Florida-based prisoner advocacy
organization.
The Aleph Institute is over-
whelmed with orders from state
and federal prisons all over the
country for Passover provisions
like matzah and other kosher-
for-Passover foods. As of last
Thursday, 25,000 pounds of food
had been delivered and orders
were still coming in.
But in Michigan, a state
which the Aleph Institute says
is historically indifferent to the
needs of Jewish prisoners, only
two state facilities and one fed-
eral facility requested Passover
items, including food and Hag-
gadot.
The food coordinator at the
Standish facility, one of seven
prisons in the state that offer a
kosher meal program, placed a
Passover order with Aleph, but
she is the only official in the cor-
rections system who has been
sympathetic to minority religious
practices, said Aleph Institute Di-
rector Isaac Jaroslawicz.
"I know one chaplain who
says Level 5 (high security)
inmates can't get outside food
at all. We're talking about
the eight days of Passover Jews
need matzah, and I told him
if we can't ship in matzah
for free, will he provide the
matzah? They're saying a Jew-
ish inmate can't get a piece of
matzah even if we provide it for
free and send it through a chap-
lain," he said.
"We've had a few problems
with Michigan in the past. It ap-
pears the prison system pays lip
service to religious freedom, but,
in the meantime, institutes poli-
cies that basically punish Jews
for trying to practice religion."
Over a year ago, Aleph battled
with the state over its refusal to
allow Jewish inmates to light
Chanukah candles. The state fi-
nally relented — but only after
Aleph threatened to sue.
'Their excuse was fire safety.
These are in the guise of safety
regulations. They let [non-Jew-
ish inmates] light votive candles
in the chapel for Christian ser-
vices, and they say that's differ-
ent," Mr. Jaroslawicz said.
Jewish inmates like Perry
Davis have contacted Aleph with
another complaint: They believe
the state recently implemented
a kosher meal pro-
gram at an Upper
Peninsula prison as
an excuse to transfer
Jews in other facili-
ties to a place far
away from their rela-
tives and friends.
"They say, 'If you
want to keep kosher,
no problem, but we'll send you
to the U.P.' They basically give
the Jewish inmate a choice: You
can be close to your family or be
sent out to an isolated place and
have kosher food," Mr. Jaroslaw-
icz said.
Mr. Davis, an inmate at Alger
who considers himself Orthodox,
confirmed that he has been
transferred back and forth from
Standish to the Upper Peninsu-
la. He said he has sought help
from the Anti-Defamation
League because prison officials
refuse to allow Jews to hold re-
ligious services.
According to Dave Burnett,
special activities coordinator and
director of religious program-
ming for the Michigan Depart-
ment of Corrections, the kosher
program was added at Alger
Maximum Security Facility
partly to keep inmates from
"declaring themselves Jewish,
requesting kosher food as a
means to move downstate," a
practice he says was common-
place among in-
mates. The prison in
Standish, located in
mid-Michigan, was
previously the only
maximum security
facility to offer the
kosher meals.
Mr. Burnett ex-
plained that at one
point, 18 inmates at Standish re-
quested the kosher meals,
prompting the state to expand
the meal program to Alger.
He estimated there are 40 in-
mates who request the kosher
meals routinely, and noted the
small numbers of Jews in Michi-
gan's corrections system.
Besides, Mr. Burnett said, the
kosher meal program includes
Passover foods like matzah dur-
ing the course of the holiday.
"Some things we may use
through the year are not
Lip service
to
religious
freedom?
20% off everyday 20% off everyday 20%
acceptable during Passover.
Those are the kinds of things
that are accommodated. Aleph
may be shipping less food to
Michigan because we do
have kosher kitchens and are
purchasing kosher food items.
Those kinds of accommodations
are not made in other states," he
said.
At the State Prison of South-
ern Michigan at Jackson, where
kosher meals are not available,
Jewish inmates have been hold-
ing seders for "decades," says
Rabbi Alan Ponn, the only rab-
bi on staff in the corrections sys-
tem.
But Aleph doesn't provide the
food. Rabbi Ponn, with the help
of an organization in Jackson
and contributions from local syn-
agogues, buys Passover provi-
sions for the inmates.
"We don't use Aleph directly.
Michigan, having a small Jew-
ish population, doesn't have a lot
of procedures to help Jews like
they do in New York or Califor-
nia. The Michigan system hasn't
done things quite consistently
for us. Yet, in some areas,
they've helped. They've given
kosher food in some institutions
and never informed me they
were doing it," he said.
Nationwide, there are between
5,000 and 6,000 Jewish prison-
ers, Mr. Jaroslawicz said. ❑
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