Food fight waged in Texas prisons: Lawsuit seeks kosher diet for Jewish inmates

Efforts being made to help rehabilitate Jewish prisoners through Yiddishkeit

In early October 2005, a lawsuit was filed in federal court against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for denying kosher meals to an observant Jew incarcerated in Texas. The suit charges that by not providing the plaintiff, Max Moussazadeh, a nutritionally sufficient kosher diet, the TDCJ is in violation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, which otherwise secures “the free exercise of religion by protecting inmates from any unlawful imposition of a substantial burden on an individual’s religious exercise.”

Counsel for the plaintiff is The Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, an interfaith, nonprofit agency based in Washington; co-council is Latham & Watkins LLP. Defendants in the suit are the TDCJ and the Eastham Unit in Lovelady, Texas, where the plaintiff is incarcerated, and which receives federal funding for the meals it serves. These include a pork-free, meat-free or regular diet tray only – none of which qualifies as kosher under the laws of kashruth.

Currently, 47 states, in addition to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, all have adopted meal programs that accommodate for religious dietary needs, including kosher food for observant Jewish prisoners. In order for a meal to qualify as kosher, the food must be derived from a Halakhically acceptable source; prepared and served in a Halakhically acceptable way; and meat and dairy must not be mixed. Besides the state of Texas, Georgia and Florida also are in violation of the RLUIPA statute for refusing to provide Jewish prisoners a regular and proper kosher diet.

In July 2005, inmate Moussazadeh filed a formal grievance with the TDCJ stating that since being incarcerated, he has been forced to eat nonkosher meals, which violates his religious duties, preventing him from fulfilling an important mitzvah. Additionally, he pointed out that he is sincere in his adherence to Judaism, and that he was born to Jewish parents who raised him in a kosher home. In his grievance, Moussazadeh asked the TDCJ to provide him kosher food for meals forthcoming. On July 22, the TDCJ denied Moussazadeh his request and offered no statement of its rationale for doing so. He then made his request a second time on July 29, and again, was denied without explanation.

Speaking from his office in Washington last week, The Becket Fund’s director of litigation, Derek Gaubatz, said that the TDCJ, thus far, has failed to demonstrate the existence of any compelling reason for preventing Moussazadeh from practicing his religion, nor has the TDCJ shown how its failure to provide a kosher diet is in the state’s best interest. Gaubatz stated that the TDCJ’s refusal to provide kosher meals to Jewish inmates, in fact, is inconsistent with Texas’ professed commitment to faith-based initiatives. Still in the process of conducting discovery, Gaubatz said that he and cocounsel hope to learn the TDCJ’s reasons for denying Moussazadeh his request.

“We’re not calling it discrimination,” he explained. “With what we do know at this point, I think it has much more to do with a lack of concern or indifference on the part of the TDCJ – and perhaps ignorance about the Jewish religion and the importance of kashruth.” Gaubatz noted that prisoners are at the mercy of their guards in all aspects of their daily lives, especially when it comes to observing one’s religion. Hoping to settle the matter without having to go to trial, Gaubatz said that Texas needs to catch up with the rest of the nation in terms of respecting diversity in its prisons, and comply with the RLUIPA statute.

Trying to present a peaceful solution for the state are the internal efforts of the shluchim (emissaries) at Chabad Outreach of Houston, an organ of Chabad Lubavitch of Texas, under the direction of Rabbi Moishe Traxler. Appointed head consulting rabbi for the TDCJ last September, Rabbi Dovid Goldstein inherited the work of Rabbi Ted Sanders, z”l, who, for many years, worked for the creation of a special rehabilitation program based on Torah for Jewish inmates in Texas – work that has been made difficult by the general lack of knowledge of Judaism among prison guards and inmates, as well as isolated instances of anti-Semitism.

Given the task of rewriting the Jewish policy for the TDCJ, Rabbi Goldstein, who has served as a prison chaplain since April 1999, said he hopes to establish a yeshiva-like rehabilitation program within the Texas prison system, similar to those for Christian inmates. Under his directive, the rabbi plans to have all Jewish inmates in Texas transferred to two voluntary “Jewish units”; the likely candidates are Central, Darrington and Ramsey, for these already are designated as Jewish units and each is close to Houston. Such a program, which would include kosher food service, could serve as a model for the rest of the country. The rabbi explained: “Both the federal and state laws are very open-ended in terms of defining the role religion can play in the rehabilitation process. With this lawsuit pending in federal court, and RLUPA being upheld in a similar case last year, now is an opportune time for Texas and the TDCJ to help be part of a proactive, mutually beneficial solution.”

Currently, there are six “Jewish designated” units spread across the state, in addition to two other facilities that house the vast majority of Jewish inmates in Texas. Rabbi Goldstein noted that among the 2,000 or so prisoners who list their religious preference as Jewish, only 75 are bona fide Jews. Given that the Jewish population is so small, he pointed out that a consolidation of Jewish prison units is both feasible and advantageous to the state: By reducing the number of Jewish desig-nated units, Rabbi Goldstein said that Texas will save money and spend fewer resources. By transferring all Jewish prisoners to two facilities, a rabbi would be able to play a more active and effective role in attending to the Jewish needs of these inmates; and by having only two Jewish units, the state would need to establish only two kosher kitchens, rather than eight, in order to comply with federal law.

During a meeting with TDCJ officials in Huntsville in January, Rabbi Goldstein laid out his objectives and also asked that he be provided an office at one of the two Jewish units, which would foster better communication between himself and the other chaplains; increase his accessibility to Texas’ Jewish inmates; be a secure home for a library of Jewish texts; and be a place for the coordination of volunteers who seek to help with the rehabilitation process through Yiddishkeit.

Addressing the central role religion can play in the rehabilitation of Jewish prisoners, Rabbi Goldstein explained the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson’s insistence on attending to the needs of those in prison – Jews who live within a secondary state of exile in addition to the one that all Jews have lived since the destruction of the Second Temple: “The Rebbe taught that all Jews are responsible for one another, and those who are incarcerated must not be forgotten – meaning that no Jew is to be left behind. Jews living in this second state of exile need spiritual guidance to help them through the rehabilitation process. It therefore is crucial that Jewish inmates be allowed to fulfill their religious obligations while serving time in prison – including observing our dietary laws – so that when it comes time to reenter society, an individual will know the benefits of living life according to Torah,” he stated.

Underscoring this point, Rabbi Shimon Lazaroff, regional director of Texas Friends of Chabad Lubavitch, said that “the Rebbe always taught the importance of protecting the Jewish rights of those who are incarcerated or hospitalized – to help any Jew, of all levels and from all places, no matter the circumstances. And today, Chabad serves Jews in prisons and Jews in hospitals all over the nation doing just that, ensuring that Jews have their Jewish rights protected. In Texas, Rabbi Goldstein is doing this great work, and the Jewish inmates here are quite fortunate to have him – for he will have their needs met.”

Meeting those needs indeed, Rabbi Goldstein has developed solutions for establishing a kosher food program at the TDCJ, which also would help prevent future lawsuits like the one filed recently in federal court. Rabbi Goldstein said that, if given office space at one of the two Jewish units near Houston, he would be able to oversee regular kosher food preparation and service. The implementation of a screening process also would be necessary in order to keep the “Jewish wannabes” from overburdening the program, he added.

The rabbi offered three cost-effective alternatives for providing Jewish inmates with a proper kosher diet, all of which would be under the guidance of the Aleph Institute, a national social services organization that has helped initiate kosher food programs in other states across the country. These three possibilities are: preparing food onsite in the proper kitchen facilities under supervision of a mashgiach; issuing pre-made meals from kosher food vendors (like those served on airlines or microwavable TV-style dinners); or serving acceptable kosher meals through retail outlets and/or kosher food establishments. To ensure that the kosher meals are served properly, Rabbi Goldstein suggested the use of disposable plastic utensils and paper goods as an inexpensive and Halakhically acceptable remedy.

Rabbi Goldstein said that he left the January meeting hopeful and agreed to spend the next several weeks drawing up blueprints for the program he described, which he plans to present to the TDCJ at a follow-up meeting later this month.

Aiding the rabbi with this task is Texas State Rep. Scott Hochberg (Dist. 137), who has been in contact with The Becket Fund, as well.Besides the issue of kosher diet, Rep. Hochberg also has helped Chabad Outreach bring the High Holy Days and other important festivals to Jewish inmates by arranging for prayer books, ceremonial foods and objects to be brought into the prisons. In years past, these items have been either stolen or thrown away by prison guards or other inmates before reaching their intended Jewish recipients. Speaking from his office in Austin last week, Rep. Hochberg said he is beginning to see the signs of progress for Jewish prisoners being allowed to practice their faith more freely.

“Less than 10 years ago, there was a fair amount of disrespect from the chaplaincy corps toward non-Christians [clergy] working in the TDCJ system. This lawsuit in federal court now has made TDCJ aware of the fact that the state prison system must accommodate for all religions, and not just Christianity. Because of this breakthrough, we no longer have to justify having these sorts of discussion, and for the first time, we now can discuss issues like how to provide kosher meals to Jewish inmates in Texas,” Rep. Hochberg said.

During the 76th Session of the Texas Legislature (1999), Rep. Hochberg sponsored the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act, which requires the state government to demonstrate a compelling interest before interfering with an individual’s religious practice, including individuals serving time in prison. Rep. Hochberg noted that, depending on the outcome of the Moussazadeh case in federal court, a similar suit – and others like this – could come to state court under a RFRA complaint.