This isn't a post about all the little spoiled rich girls who are going to and from jail. Instead it is about how a Florida prison has stopped serving kosher food to inmates.
The article states the following statistics for cost of three meals per inmate per day:
non-kosher $2.66
kosher $4.71
They had this to say about the price difference: "Kosher meals cost the same [as non-kosher], but with costs for disposable containers and transportation, since the food was not prepared at each facility, the price came to about $4.71."
So the question is: If they prepared all meals kosher at the facility, wouldn't that eliminate the disposable containers and need for transportation? Thus the price would return to approximately $2.66 for each inmate and those without food restrictions due to religious beliefs would simply be eating kosher instead (which tastes no different than non-kosher I'm sure).
And then the other option is: Inmates can accept the absence of a kosher option as yet another symptom of incarceration, along with basically all other freedoms of choice. I have a feeling it won't be long before the people of authority (whoever they are) force them to reinstate the kosher meals.
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10 comments:
Although technically the First Amendment to the Constitution only specifies that "Congress shall make no law...prohibiting the free exercise [of religion]," there is no doubt that the State of Florida will force them to offer the kosher menu once again on the basis of religious freedom. And I would quite agree with the State. Cost savings may NEVER interfere with the religious practices of anyone in your employ or care, and I say this as an agnostic.
And in response to your statement about the flavor of kosher foods, no, the same meal made with kosher ingredients will not taste any different. It would restrict the use of swine, though. Any land animal they eat must be a ruminant with cloven hooves. They may only eat fish with scales/fins and no other seafood. There are a lot more specific restrictions, but that is enough for reference.
Then again, many laws have been created establishing that nothing may be labeled as "kosher" if it was not prepared in accordance with Jewish religion, in fact it was a criminal offense to do so. Many of those have also been struck down as unconstitutional regarding the establishment clause, and equating it to labeling something as "low sodium" and such.
I find it pretty ridiculous that anyone can label their products as kosher at will, regardless of whether it actually is or not. God forbid Jews actually get what is expected from something labeled kosher....
Oh, as for the disposable containers part, that might refer to this restriction:
Meat and milk (and anything made with dairy and meat products) cannot be served in the same meal, or cooked using the same dishes or utensils, or stored in a way that could cause them to intermingle. Observant Jews have separate dishes for meat and milk.
Perhaps those practicing Jewish orthodoxy in jail should have done so more studiously on the outside. Then they likely WOULDN'T BE IN PRISON.
To camron: I think that by disposable containers they were referring to the fact that all the kosher food is made off the prison premises and that it then would be brought on disposable dishes. I actually researched kosher rules before writing this post. But I have to say, no one is telling them they can't be Jewish. Not all Jews are kosher, either.
In this case, I'm leaning more toward what metrognome said. If their religion is that important to them, they should have considered how their other actions would impact their futures. It's actually the exact argument I was having with someone while I was writing it. Speaking as an agnostic, I'm sure that if they repent for doing what it was that landed them in jail, they will just as easily be forgiven for not having a kosher option while doing their time. I'm confident that God would understand.
perhaps one should consider that once you do something bad enough to warrant time in a Florida state prison, you are limiting your personal choices significantly. You made a decision to do something. That was a choice. You got caught, sent to jail. The act in and of itself directly deprived one of all other choices. They should serve whatever food they can muster up and if an inmate doesn't want to eat, tough shit.
Your reasoning for your convictions is mildly flawed in that you assume the only people who would eat kosher are already Jewish and in assuming that all crimes ever committed are purely by decision.
Many people convert during their prison stays, and the longer the sentence, the more likely it is.
Now I don't know about you, but I've done more than a few things that I realized post facto that were felonies that could have landed me in prison. We ALL do illegal things many times in our lives. When I was younger, I once did some joyriding in heavy construction equipment. At 16 I was stopped for doing 80mph in a 40 zone which could have landed me in prison for reckless driving and the automatic addition of attempted vehicular manslaughter regardless of my actual intentions (luckily neither of these charges were added). I have cut down trees in a national forest for firewood, another felony. I have fished without a license, a misdemeanor with a hefty fine. I have driven a vehicle without a catalytic converter. People do stupid things, many of which I think it is going beyond punishment to deny religious rites.
Now let's take the article "Religion in the United States" on the unscholarly source Wikipedia to be factual this time and assume that it's values regarding the Orthodox Jewish population (those that would be kosher) in the US to be debated between 1.4 and 2.1% of the population to be correct and then, this is dangerous but I use it for the sake of argument, extrapolate the data to prison populations. I couldn't quickly find any data regarding the average size of prison populations in the US, so I say we assume one to two thousand inmates as a rough estimate. 2.1% of 2,000 means that 42 people would be eating the kosher meals. They're spending less than $200 per day to feed a sparse 42 people. 126 meals for me costs a hell of a lot more than $200. (North Carolina spends only 52 cents on food per inmate per day, I found that interesting.)
A report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics within the Department of Justice in 2001 indicate that a majority of spending in the state prison system was on salaries, benefits and wages (about two-thirds). Only 4% of state prison expenditures (which totals over 28 billion dollars) was on food, 3 times less than on medical care. "Reports of low food costs often
reflected prisoner-operated farm and
food processing operations.
For example, Mississippi State
Penitentiary, Parchman, and South
Mississippi State Penitentiary, Leakesville,
grew a wide variety of fruits,
vegetables and grains, and raised
livestock for other Mississippi prisons.
Prison enterprises in North Carolina
operated a cannery, a meat processing
plant, warehouses, and trucks to
deliver food and equipment to correctional
facilities statewide." (USDOJ, 2001). Apparently at least some of the inmates have to work for their food, and that's enough reason for me to provide that little bit extra.
If you would like to read the 9 page report, you can find it in a convenient pdf file at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/spe01.pdf
Forgive the grammar errors, I just woke up and didn't bother proofreading. The comment box is entirely too small to go through all of that a second time.
Also my apologies, that 2001 data was compiled and reported in 2004, not 2001.
Another interesting statistic from the USDOJ: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/p05.pdf
One quick response, and then no moer comments from me on this topic.
Camron, your post is too cluttered with non-essential details for me to make heads or tails of your position. But having asked you, I have only this to say:
1) The article states that there is a vegan option which satisfies kosher rules, and it is only one man's opinion that it "probably isn't a reasonable accommodation." To that I say, why accommodate prisoners? This isn't the Waldorf-Astoria, it's the Florida State Pen. Regardless of how or why they got there, that is where they are. (Also, I'm ignoring your comment about them finding religion in jail because that fact has nothing to do with the subject at hand.)
2) The article also says that the prison rules are that three meals must be provided which do not "violate those dietary laws." They fail to mention which laws but they do mention that the vegan choice meets those requirements. As noted above, that same man's opinion was that they are being forced to disobey their religions or forced to eat vegan. Those are the options. Take it or leave it, because again, this is prison.
Now for a point by point rundown of your fallacies :) :
1) You said that it was assumed the only people eating kosher were already Jewish. Not true. The article clearly states that Muslims eat it too, and since it also says you have to enroll to be able to get kosher meals that means that to some degree you can predict and definitively say who is eating kosher.
2) The article states that 3.7% are Muslim and 2.2% are Jewish (of the inmate population). Thus 5.9% of the prison population potentially could be wanting kosher meals. The article states that there are 93000 inmates. Therefore potentially 5487 inmates want kosher. The difference between kosher and non-kosher is $2.05. Thus the added increase would be $11248 per day. $4105648 per year extra. That's just for Florida. Think about it for your state while you are paying your taxes.
Now, on a note you didn't really bring up:
"Congress shall make no law...prohibiting the free exercise [of religion]." But the Constitution doesn't say whether it applies to criminals in jail, nor does it outline what constitutes religious practice. But, this is much too big a subject to conquer at this time.
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