14 | OCTOBER 24 • 2019
J
ewish inmates in Michigan
prisons will start receiv-
ing kosher meals under a
proposed settlement reached
Oct. 12 in a class-action
lawsuit handled by the Civil
Rights Clinic at Michigan State
University, led by Professor
Daniel Manville. “We got the
entry for preliminary approv-
al and the notices will begin
going up in the 16 Michigan
prisons that house Jewish
inmates,” Manville said.
Manville, an ex-offender
who spent four years in prison
in the 1970s, is an advocate
for prisoners’
rights who likes
to take on cases “that make an
impact,” he says.
He’
s been working
on this case since
2013.
“It stemmed
from a lawsuit by
Muslim prison-
ers who wanted
a halal diet,”
he explains. “The Michigan
Department of Corrections
(MDOC) agreed to provide
those prisoners with a vegan
diet to settle the claim. They
then extended that vegan diet
to Jewish prisoners who want-
ed kosher meals — kind of a
one-size-fits-all religious meal
solution.”
Former prisoner Michael
Arnold filed suit after that
decision because, he said, a
vegan diet lacks kosher meat
and dairy and, most impor-
tantly, doesn’
t adhere to kosher
principles of preparation, such
as proscriptions against con-
tamination with non-kosher
utensils and prep areas.
Arnold, who told the Detroit
Free Press, “the policy of
enforced vegetarianism was
targeted” at Jewish prisoners,
was dropped from the suit
when he was released from
prison.
Arnold’
s original lawsuit
eventually became “Gerald
Ackerman and Mark Shaykin
v. Heidi Washington,” the suit
that was just settled, which
resolves prisoners’
claims to
kosher meals.
Currently, inmates have
the option to purchase kosher
meals and products at the pris-
on commissary twice a month,
but, Manville says, the cost is
prohibitive for most inmates.
“Each meal costs around
$5-$6, which is hard to afford
when you’
re earning $30 a
month in your prison job and
need to buy shampoo and
other incidentals.”
Under the proposed set-
tlement, which is subject to
a fairness hearing Dec. 11 in
front of U.S. District Judge
Linda Parker in Detroit, Jewish
inmates who keep kosher will
be entitled to meals prepared
in a certified kosher kitchen
within the facility or certified
kosher meals from a third-par-
ty vendor. Facilities that pro-
duce kosher meals onsite must
submit to inspections to main-
tain kosher certification.
MDOC has cited the cost
of creating kosher kitchens
at $100,000 for each of the
16 facilities holding Jewish
prisoners, or $1.6 million.
“Which seems a little high,”
Manville said.
According to MDOC, there
are about 600 Jewish pris-
oners in Michigan’
s 33,000
prison population. Of those
600, Manville said, between
85 and 193 are approved for
kosher meals. “The discrep-
ancy in the numbers likely
stems from the 2013 settlement
that forced those requesting
kosher meals to eat the vegan
meals,
” Manville said. “Many
Jewish prisoners dropped their
requests for kosher and opted
for the general menu.
”
Prisoners not already
approved for kosher meals
can become eligible for kosher
meals by living kosher for 60
days, which means that prison-
ers must use only the religious
diet line for meals and may not
“purchase, receive, possess or
consume” any non-kosher item
from the commissary, visitors
or another prisoner. If at any
time they are found to have
consumed something non-ko-
sher, they have to restart the
60-day process.
“That provision was added
to the settlement to ensure
Michigan didn’
t have 32,000
prisoners decide they were
Jewish once they read the
notice,
” Manville said.
The settlement does not
resolve plaintiffs’
meat and
dairy consumption claims,
Manville adds. The issue of
whether Jewish prisoners will
receive kosher meat and dairy
meals 56 days a year (each
Shabbat, Rosh Hashanah, Yom
Kippur, Sukkot and Shavuot)
is still in dispute and was just
litigated early this month,
“although all parties have
agreed to at least one cheese-
cake per year,
” Manville said.
“We expect a ruling on that
early next year.
”
Manville said MDOC has
claimed in court that it is reluc-
tant to provide meat and dairy
meals to kosher-observant pris-
oners 56 times a year because
of the cost, which, according to
Manville, would add $10,000-
$20,000 per year in expenses
for MDOC.
Settlement Reached
Michigan’
s Jewish prisoners win right to kosher meals.
JACKIE HEADAPOHL ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Jews in the D
Daniel
Manville
MSU