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U.S. Prisons Face Soaring Demand for Kosher Food

Kosher Today

Jewish inmates get a chance to study Torah with the Aleph Institute’s ‘Yeshiva in Prison’ program.

Can one celebrate freedom behind bars? Ask the hundreds of kosher consuming prisoners who partook in seders this past Passover holiday.

Indeed, the Jewish prisoner population in the United States today numbers in the thousands, making for a plethora of penitently-style kosher meals to be manufactured, served, and consumed, according to Chaplain Gary Friedman, a long time prison chaplain in the Washington State Department of Corrections and executive director of Jewish Prisoner Services International.

“One of the key problems, with regards to Jewish religious observance and kosher food in America’s prisons today, is the sheer volume of prisoners claiming to be Jewish,” said Chaplain Friedman. He continued: “I would roughly estimate the additional cost for kosher food at forty million dollars a year for the nation’s prisons.

While less than 1.5% of America’s prisoners are Jewish, many more claim Judaism as their religion, leading to a possibly untenable situation where kosher food must be provided for thousands of prisoners who are not members of the Jewish faith.” Chaplain Friedman concluded that, “If only those prisoners who were actually Jewish claimed Judaism as their religion and requested kosher food, there would be no problem with any particular prisoner receiving kosher meals. The problems, such as the recent Court challenge in Indiana, are due to the prisoners who, despite not being Jewish, claim to be Jewish and request kosher food.

The negative impact of this phenomenon, namely the increase in food costs and associated administrative hassles is absorbed by the state at the expense of the Jewish religious population that actually requires kosher food.” Why would a non-Jewish prisoner want to eat kosher? “For some it’s a paranoia issue; they think that people are tampering with their food, while others believe that kosher food is healthier or better tasting,” says Chaplain Friedman.

He added that “in many prisons, those receiving kosher food do so as a group, which allows for prisoners to meet three times a day. In fact, in Washington State we had a whole group of Neo-Nazis claiming to be Jewish due to this auxiliary benefit.” From the food manufacturer’s perspective, providing kosher food to prisons can translate into big business. Since the overwhelming majority of prisons do not have hot kosher kitchens, many kosher diets consist of shelf stable foods. Indeed, Alle Processing’s shelf stable “Amazing Meals” can be found in prisons across the country.

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11 Comments

  • R. Gould

    Perhaps it would be better if there was not need for kosher food in prison in the first place, but unfortunately that is not the case. Perhaps if life was not so comfortable in prison. i.e. the “federal” Kollel in Ottisville, NY it would discourage crime in our communities. Then again perhaps not. The real issue is kosher meals are considered better quality then regular meals, easy enough down grade the kosher food so that both the regular and kosher prisoners are all eating the same quality slop that they deserve while serving time.

  • itamar

    “One of the key problems, with regards to Jewish religious observance and kosher food in America’s prisons today, is the sheer volume of prisoners claiming to be Jewish,”

    It’s funny. I’m sitting right now in my office on Rikers Island and I just, while I was reading this, heard two guys that are about as Jewish as madonna yell out: “ey, yo, you got any koshers [food trays]?”

    funny coincidence, no?

  • Penina

    To number one, that was really not a nice comment about eating slop that they deserve…why does a prisoner deserve slop? and especially a Jewish prisoner? Many jewish prisoners are not even guilty of any real crime, and even if they are, they do teshuvah in prison….why should they suffer from their food? EAting packaged meals is hard enough day in and day out… at least let the food be decent! That was an insensitive comment and it is obvious you never sat in prison or had a relative or friend in prison, Hashem yirachem.

  • GO-DS RIGHT HAND MAN

    THE JEWISH RELIGION IS DILUTED ALREADY WITH REFORM AND GOVERMENT CONVERSIONS
    I’M SURE ANY CONVICT CAN TELL YOU IT IS GENDER REGARDLESS OF RELIGION
    “WERE ALL MEN AND ACCEPT ONE LAW EQUALLY”
    WOMEN HOLD EACH OTHER UP ALSO WHEN GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY
    YUP YOU CAN HAVE YOUR KOSHER MEAL YET THE KITCHEN WORKER PUT THE GOVERMENTS “FINGERS/HOOKS” IN IT LIKE ALL THE GOODS RECEIVED FROM UNCLE SAM
    AND THAT GOES FOR ANY PLACE WITH JAILS AND PRISONS
    BECAUSE IT IS TRUE FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS
    NONETHELESS THE TRUTH IS THE BOOK ~ THE TANACH
    WHATS SPECIAL ABOUT YOU ARE YOU MADE OF CHINA WHILE EVERYONE ELSE IS MADE OF PORCELIAN
    YOU DID THE CRIME YOU DO THE TIME LIKE ANYONE ELSE

  • GO-D-S RIGHT HAND MAN

    OOOH I DIDNT EVER HEAR OF A TAX RETURN
    ALL I MADE WAS $10,000 AND YOU WANT ME IN PENITENTARY FOR SEVEN YEARS
    I MEAN HOW YOU DOIN’
    IT SEEMS ONLY THE GOVERMENT EMPLOYEES ARE ABLE TO ABIDE AND COMPLY WITH ALL THEIR LAWS AND REGULATIONS IN THE NAME OF????

  • Food For The Soul

    Why is it a bad thing if goyim in prison eat kosher? Maybe it will help lead them on the right path.

  • Fasoulia ze yom menucha

    Indeed. Give everyone rice, beans and an occasional egg or piece of fish the way it used to be. Then Skvere or Spinka can certify the entire prison system kitchen as kosher. And people will think twice about committing crimes.

  • go-ds right hand man

    the right path is the path to a shabbos with a eruv ( a gated community, kiryat gan yisroel,new square, jewtown USA ) as the seven mitzvos mrabban are as that is a goal of torah observant jews OUR OWN PLACE where we make the regulations