The state Corrections Department isn't violating a Muslim prisoner's right to exercise his religion by refusing to serve him the same kosher meals provided to Jewish inmates, Commonwealth Court ruled Tuesday.
Inmate Sean Pressley, who has been behind bars for 20 years, argued that he needed the kosher meals, because the dishwashing system at the state prison at Mahanoy in Schuylkill County doesn't follow the Islamic process for purging cooking and eating utensils of any residue of pork.
The Jewish and Islamic religious traditions forbid the consumption of pork, which is considered to be "impure."
The prison kitchens use chemicals and water to clean cooking and eating utensils, which sometimes are used to cook and serve meals involving pork products. Pressley insisted during his years-long court battle that, to follow the Muslim mandate, the Corrections Department should have washed them six times with clean water, then once with water and earth to remove any pork residue.
He argued that his religious rights were being violated because some residue of unclean pork might have escaped the prison cleaning process. Serving him pork-free kosher meals, which bypass the regular prison cooking and cleaning process, would ensure he was not exposed to any unclean food, Pressley contended.
Yet the Corrections Department countered that Pressley's proposition would be too costly, especially if it was required to provide kosher meals to the approximately 10,000 Muslims held in Pennsylvania's prisons.
Pressley began his legal battle in 2009 by filing a grievance that Corrections Department officials denied. He appealed to Commonwealth Court and won an interim victory in 2011, when the judges refused a plea by state officials to dismiss his case.
In the Commonwealth Court ruling issued Tuesday, Judge Bernard L. McGinley wrote that Pressley had failed to prove state officials were denying him his right to exercise his religion freely.
The judge noted the Correction's Department concerns that its food service costs would soar, if all Muslim inmates had to receive the kosher meals now provided only to Jewish prisoners.
Those kosher meals consist of pre-packaged grain products and fruits and vegetables that are served in Styrofoam trays with plastic utensils. In court filings, state officials said it costs $3.49 to provide three regular meals per inmate daily, compared with $5.95 for the same number of kosher meals.
The Corrections Department argued as well that Pressley's religious rights are protected because he can select an alternate protein source diet that, while not actually kosher, contains no animal flesh or byproducts.
The legal battle over Pressley's push for kosher diet isn't over, however.
McGinley noted that his court still needs to hear more argument as to whether Pressley has a case under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutional Persons Act.
That law bars the government from enforcing rules that place a substantial burden on prisoners trying to exercise their religions unless it can show there is a compelling reason for those rules and that they are the least restrictive means of accomplishing the government's aims.
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