A prison hallway. Photo: Pixabay

Jewish inmates of Michigan prisons must be provided with kosher meals on holidays, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled Tuesday.

The ruling upheld a lower court ruling in a case relating to the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC)’s decision to provide prisoners with religious dietary requirements a uniform vegan meal option, Courthouse News Service reported.

Plaintiffs Gerald Ackerman and Mark Shaykin filed a class action lawsuit in 2013 seeking meals with kosher meat on Shabbat, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot, as well as dairy products on Shavuot, when many Jews customarily eat foods like cheesecake. MDOC claimed, among other objections, that their religious beliefs were not sincere.

Ackerman and Shaykin won a bench trial over the issue, and MDOC appealed the ruling, leading to Tuesday’s Sixth Circuit decision.

The ruling, which was unanimous, upheld the initial decision. US Circuit Judge John Nalbandian wrote the court’s opinion, noting that the plaintiffs “were raised eating kosher diets in Jewish households that included meat and dairy” and that they claimed that “failing to properly celebrate with these foods ‘diminishes … the fullness’ and ‘heartfelt meaning’ of holiday celebrations.”

The judge added that allowing the plaintiffs to purchase kosher snacks did not solve the problem, as “commissary purchases of meat wouldn’t suffice because the Code of Jewish Law requires ‘meat during the meal,’ not as snacks or post-meal supplements.”

“Even if these prisoners spent every last penny on beef sticks and dry milk, prison policy would still bar their religious exercise of eating those items as part of their meals,” he wrote.

Nalbandian rejected MDOC’s claims that providing kosher meals would be unacceptably expensive or would be a slippery slope allowing other inmates to make similar claims.

The plaintiffs’ attorney Thomas Rheaume commented that the “Sixth Circuit rightly upheld the sincerely held religious beliefs of incarcerated persons. The decision paves the way for a class of Jewish prisoners to eat religious meals in accordance with the precepts of their religion as opposed to non-conforming religious meals deemed sufficient by the state.”