Pork Producers Threaten Litigation Over Prison's Response to Muslim Inmates' Meal Lawsuit
In an effort to address complaints by Muslim inmates that the Ohio prison system doesn’t provide them with halal meals prepared in accord with their religion’s dietary laws, administrators decided simply to ban pork from the menu.
But that didn’t derail the halal-meal litigation, reports the Associated Press. And now pork producers are threatening a lawsuit of their own unless what they refer to as the other lean meat is put back on the regular diet for most Ohio inmates.
As the AP article points out, observant Muslims don’t eat pork and the inmates’ suit is directly concerned with issues such as the proper slaughter of beef cattle to comply with their religious law. However, it appears that officials hoped to bring prison kitchens closer to halal standards by not cooking pork there.
A spokeswoman for the prison system declined to comment on the litigation but noted that not having pork in prison kitchens eliminates the possibility of inadvertently bringing pork into contact with meals for observant Muslims.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Inmate Convicted in Courthouse Slayings Sues, Says Ohio Won’t Provide Halal Meals to Muslims”
