EDDYVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky death row inmate has filed a federal lawsuit against the state claiming he is being denied kosher food at the state penitentiary.
The Courier-Journal (http://cjky.it/2aauB83) reported that Jewish prisoner William Harry Meece was kicked out of the prison’s kosher program for eating a rotisserie chicken that wasn’t marked “kosher,” a violation of the Department of Corrections’ requirement that those on religious diets adhere to them strictly.
The newspaper reported that Meece, sentenced to death in 2006 for killing three members of an Adair County family, says in his lawsuit that only Orthodox Jews are limited to food stamped “kosher.” Reformed Jews can merely avoid pork and shellfish and maintain other dietary restrictions.
The Courier-Journal reported Kosher meals cost 72 percent more and thousands of inmates are believed to falsely identify as Jewish.