Jewish inmate sues state over refusal to provide kosher meals

By The Associated Press

09.22.02

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MIAMI — A Jewish man serving a life sentence for murder has sued the state for refusing to provide him with kosher meals.

Alan J. Cotton, serving a life sentence for a 1966 first-degree murder, claims the state's refusal to provide him with kosher meals has deprived him of the right to live as a devout Jew.

Orthodox Jewish tradition mandates that all Jews eat food prepared according to strict religious dietary laws. Kosher food vendors supply airlines, hotels and other businesses with meals for kosher clients.

But keeping kosher behind bars has proven difficult for the 57-year-old Massachusetts-born Cotton.

The Miami-based Greenberg Traurig firm and the Becket Fund, a public interest firm in Washington D.C., have taken up his cause. Attorneys from both organizations sued on Sept. 19 in Miami district court against Department of Corrections Secretary Michael W. Moore and Timothy Mingo, warden of the Everglades Correctional Institution where Cotton is serving his sentence.

The suit alleges that the state's refusal to provide Cotton with kosher food is a violation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, as well as Florida's Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

"The law is clear," said spokesman Patrick Korten of the Becket Fund. "They do have that obligation."

"Prisoners have some fewer rights but are not required to give up religious rights," said Becket Fund attorney Derek Gaubatz.

Mingo declined comment. The state Department of Corrections did not immediately return phone calls for this article.

Gaubatz says the government must have a compelling reason, such as prisoner or guard safety, in order to deny a prisoner's right to religious exercise.

Gaubatz said it was unclear why state officials had refused Cotton's request for kosher food. He said Cotton was restricted to pre-packaged kosher snacks available in the prison canteen.

"He tries to manage. He hasn't starved," said Gaubatz.

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