Arkansas prison told to give inmate kosher food
By The Associated Press,
freedomforum.org staff
07.09.02
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A state inmate has won a federal appeals court decision allowing him to continue to get kosher foods.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis told the state of Arkansas yesterday to keep feeding inmate Kelvin Ray Love the food he says he should get. That's at least until a permanent solution can be worked out.
Love won a temporary U.S. District Court order stipulating that he receive kosher meals. He had previously asked the state to provide him a kosher diet. The district court said he was entitled to the specially prepared food and ordered the prison and Love to work out an agreement.
According to the appeals court order, the parties later told the district court they failed to reach an agreement because the "kosher-meal plan involved food items processed through the prison kitchen, while Love sought prepackaged items, fearing that the food prepared in defendant's non-kosher kitchen could easily become non-kosher."
In response, the court ordered the prison to supply Love with kosher food and deposit $15 a week into his prison account so he could buy the food from the prison's commissary.
The prison appealed, arguing that depositing the cash into Love's account was unconstitutional. The appeals court disagreed, saying that the money would be paid from public funds.
Love is serving a life sentence on a first-degree murder conviction. He has been in prison since 1990, according to the state Correction Department's Web site.
Yesterday's decision wasn't the first time the federal appeals court has ruled in Love's favor in a lawsuit. Two years ago, the appeals court ruled that corrections officials violated Love's rights by refusing to provide him with peanut butter and bread for his Sabbath.
Also, in March of last year, the court ruled that a district judge acted prematurely when he dismissed Love's claim against a state Correction Department psychiatrist. Love claimed that Dr. Walter R. Oglesby gave him an excessive dose of an anti-psychotic drug. Love also claimed that Oglesby altered his medical records.