Source: The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/11WEmain.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
MUSLIM inmates at the Westchester County Jail are free to study the Koran and worship together. But they say that they are not able to adhere fully to their faith because county jail officials have declined to meet their demands in one area: their diet.
“Under the Koran, the food we eat must be halal,” Julio Rosa, 36, said last month in an interview with two other inmates in the jail’s visitation room. “To not have halal means going against your faith. For us, that’s not acceptable.”
Mr. Rosa is one of a group of Muslim inmates who filed individual lawsuits in federal court in Manhattan more than a year ago against the county Department of Correction, claiming that their constitutional rights to freedom of religion and equal protection are being violated.
The inmates argue that they are entitled to meat that is halal, prepared according to Islamic law, because diet is an integral part of their faith.
Rocco A. Pozzi, the county’s correction commissioner, is named in the lawsuit. He declined to comment, referring questions to the office of Andrew J. Spano, the county executive.
Susan Tolchin, Mr. Spano’s chief adviser, said the county jail provided meals that met the nutritional and religious needs of inmates. “Whether they all get the same meals or not, they all have their nutritional needs met,” she said.