The Florida Department of Corrections has agreed to serve kosher food again to its Jewish inmates.
The decision was made after the state's Department of Corrections canceled its kosher meal program since 2007. When the Corrections Department ended the kosher meals in 2007, the cost of kosher food and unfairness to specific religious groups were cited and the inmates who needed kosher food were encouraged to choose vegetarian or vegan meals.
The U.S. government sued the Florida Department of Corrections in federal district court in Miami last year for ending its kosher meal service and violating the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000. The act allows prisoners’ freedom of worship according to their religious beliefs.
A state religious dietary study group had advised the state not to end the kosher meal program, saying that the inmates "may either eat the non-kosher food and fail to obey his religious laws or not eat the non-kosher food and starve."
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 13 inmates. But many Muslim inmates had also relied on the kosher food, because halal food is not allowed by the state. According to the committee, the cost of providing the kosher meals is about $146,000 a year.
The Chabad-Lubavitch Aleph Institute, which advocates the interests of Jewish inmates and soldiers in the U.S., praised Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s strong advocacy on behalf of Jewish inmates and soldiers. “The Aleph Institute and the Jewish community would like to thank governor Rick Scott profusely for arranging that kosher food will be available to Jewish inmates in Florida," said Rabbi Menachem Katz of the Aleph Institute.
