Court: N.H. state prison inmate should get kosher diet

AP's Katherine Webster reports that a federal judge has ruled that New Hampshire prison inmate Albert Kuperman, an Orthodox Jew, must be given kosher food, even if he has been caught with non-kosher foods:

Kuperman's lawyers said revoking his kosher diet violated his First Amendment right to practice religion, and U.S. Magistrate Judge James Muirhead agreed.

"If a diabetic inmate were placed on a medically appropriate diet and was then caught purchasing a candy bar from the canteen, the prison would not be justified in removing the inmate from his medical diet and forcing him to eat a high sugar diet for six months for the violation," Muirhead wrote. "Similarly, an inmate eating an extra helping or unauthorized item isn't restricted to bread and water for six months."

Kuperman signed a form acknowledging that the punishment for eating non-kosher food would be a six-month suspension of his kosher diet, but Kuperman testified at a hearing that he bought meat from the canteen for another inmate who was 'strong-arming' him. Kuperman said he did not eat it.

The magistrate's report also said Kuperman was accused of eating non-kosher chicken from the prison kitchen.

Muirhead agreed with Kuperman's lawyer, who argued it served no legitimate security purpose to punish a sincerely religious inmate by barring an essential religious practice.

"Removing an orthodox Jew from a kosher diet serves, religiously speaking, to distance an inmate from his own spirituality and religious practice," Muirhead wrote. "Such a move has a direct negative impact on the inmate's ability to better himself or maintain himself spiritually."

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Prison chaplains to discuss how to help Jewish inmates

A first of its kind conference will be held in Brussels next month concerning Jewish inmates held in European prisons and jails. Rabbis and prison chaplains will discuss how best to assist the 3,500 Jewish inmates, according to Levy Kanelsky, director of the European Aleph Institute, which is holding the conference. According to Kanelsky, these prisoner often have difficulty in reenty:

"Supplying prisoners with religious goods and items such as siddurim (prayer books), kosher food, scriptures, talletim (prayer shawls) and tefillin (phylacteries) helps them gain a higher level of self-awareness and understanding of the implications of their actions," Kanelsky adds.

The Aleph institutes organises visits by religious figures and volunteers and also provides support for the families which are often in great economic, social and psychological distress.

Israel’s Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger will attend the seminar.

"We are ensuring that the prisoners have a chance to lead relatively normal lives,” Kanelsky stressed."

(European Jewish Press)

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Observing Passover not easy for inmates

Brianna Bailey of the Norman Transcript (Oklahoma) writes about the challenges that Messianic and Orthodox jews face in celebrating Passover at Joseph Harp Correctional Center:

How do you celebrate freedom when you aren’t free? How do you open the door for Elijah the Prophet when the door is made of bars and you don’t have the key?“We do it symbolically,” said Jess Beard, who discovered Messianic Judaism while incarcerated.Others view Passover as a time of hope and optimism for the future. “Next year in Jerusalem, Next year in Jerusalem,” said inmate Delbert Lynch, echoing the last words recited each year at the Passover Seder.

Orthodox Jews have some special challenges:

David Smith wears a kippah and a silver Star of David necklace with his blue prison shirt. His inmate number is printed on a white piece of tape on his shirt. His faith has become a way for him to gain a family in prison, he said. There are six to 10 practicing Orthodox Jews at Joseph Harp, he said.

"It’s good being able to share something with others and be a part of a community here," Smith said.

Preparing for Passover was no easy task in prison. Observant Jews may not eat or possess any leavened bread or “Chametz” during Passover week, commemorating the flat bread the Hebrews ate when they fled Egypt. Orthodox Jews must clean their houses of all leavened bread before Passover.

"It’s hard when my roommate brings in Doritos and Ramen noodles," Smith said. "But I am only responsible for the space that is my own."

Inmates think of their “house” as their half of the cell. Such distinctions make it possible for Smith and other Orthodox Jewish inmates at Joseph Harp to remain observant in their own way.

Hat tip to Corrections Connection.

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Prison Chaplain Seeks Biblical Help

Los Angeles prison chaplain Rabbi Yossi Carron serves inmates in the largest jail in the US:

"Carron helps prisoners by leading weekly Torah study groups and ministering to individual inmates at each of the half-dozen jails in his chaplaincy. But he said he needs help. He needs books.

'I know that all of you are aware of the transformational work I do serving the Jewish inmates in the largest jails in the United States,' he wrote in a e-mail plea to the Jewish community. 'These men and women are so inspired by the texts of our tradition as they endeavor to turn their lives around. Unfortunately, we have a big problem. Almost no books: Tanakhim, siddurim, Chumashim, Jewish recovery books. My Christian colleagues are distributing the New Testament by the truckloads and I am in dire need of supplies.'

Carron mentions some of his men who are doing well because of their newfound connection to Judaism while they were in prison. He says that 'Ari' has been sober for two and a half years, made restitution for what he did and is now in medical school; 'Mike' has enrolled in USC to complete his last semester and is due to graduate in August; and 'Steven' is now working in mortgage banking.

For a tax-deductible donation, send a check to The Board of Rabbis of Southern California, 6505 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 430, Los Angeles, CA 90049. Write On check: FOR RABBI CARRON'S BOOK/SUPPLYFUND. Or to Rabbi Yossi Carron, Mekom Tikvah: A Place of Hope, 17046 Burbank Blvd. Unit '11, Encino, CA 91316. To see the wishlist of books needed go to www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/17VAWQJ5861X6/ref=cm_wl_rlist_go/105-3566560-5906057 and send the books to Rabbi Carron, Men's Central Jail, Office of Religious practices, 441 Bauchet Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012.

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Preparing Jewish inmates for Passover

David Briggs of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes of local rabbis visiting prisons, noting the rarity of Jewish detention ministers:

"We're from a community that would prefer to believe its people don't get in trouble," said Gary Friedman, chairman of the Seattle-based Jewish Prisoner Services International. "We're the least popular cause in Judaism."

But for a small yet growing number of Jewish leaders involved in prison ministry here, caring for inmates is more than an imperative of their faith. It is a contemporary window into an ancient promise that God has the power to transcend temporal prisons.

After a year of weekly visits to 10 inmates at Albion State Prison in western Pennsylvania, Rabbi A. Leib Scheinbaum said he will never look at Passover the same way.

"This year, I can relate to being a slave, to being in bondage," said Scheinbaum of the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland in Cleveland Heights.

They find the work a challenge:

Life as a prison chaplain is not easy. Rabbis like Scheinbaum and Rabbi
Yossi Marozov of The Friendship Circle in Beachwood must not only push fear out
of their minds but also travel a great distance at little or no pay to visit
Jewish prisoners.

And all to serve relatively few inmates, a major reason prison ministry
is such a low priority.
Nationally, Friedman estimates that 12,000 to 15,000
Jews are incarcerated. Actual numbers are difficult to come by, in part because
some prisoners won't identify themselves for fear of discrimination, persecution
or of being labeled different.

In the Ohio correctional system, 78 of the approximately 49,000 prisoners
have identified themselves as Jewish, said the Rev. Gary Sims, religious service
administrator for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Sims said the number of Jewish chaplains is slowly increasing, but he said
more are needed, along with help for prisoners to adjust to life on the outside.

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How the Prisoners Saved Their Rabbi’s Daughter

The blog Heichal HaNegina presents an excerpt from the book A Tzaddik in Our Time: The Life of Rabbi Aryeh Levin by Simcha Raz. Reb Aryeh served as an unpaid prison chaplain in Palestine during the British Occupation, starting in the 1920's. Part of the excerpt shows the kind of relationship that can be built up between a prison chaplain and those they serve. Reb Aryeh's daughter had been struck down suddenly with paralysis:

The next Shabbos the prisoners flocked around him and asked how his daughter was. "As well as can be expected," he said emotionally.
During the Torah reading, an unusual thing occurred during the Mi Sheberach (“may he be blessed”) prayer recited after each of the seven aliyos, in which one asks the L-rd to bless and protect the man just called to the Torah. It is customary that the man called to the Torah pledges a sum to charity.

As Rav Aryeh duly recited the Mi Sheberach for the first prisoner called to the Torah, he was taken by surprise to hear the man announce that he was pledging a day of his life for the recovery of the good rabbi’s daughter. When the time came for the Mi Sheberach of the second called, he announced that he forfeited a week of his life for the sake of the sick woman. The third man called pledged a month of his lifespan; and so it went. At last it was the turn of the seventh man, Dov Tamari, who later became a professor at the Technion in Haifa.

"What is our life in prison worth," he cried, "compared to our rabbi’s anguish? I pledge all the remaining days of my life to the complete recovery of our rabbi’s daughter!"

Rav Aryeh looked at the young man and burst into tears. He was moved beyond words to see how devoted these men were to him and how much affection they bore him. Unable to continue with the prayer service, he shook hands warmly with every single one of the inmates and went straight home.

That evening, after Shabbos, members of his family came to tell him that his daughter was beginning to show signs of recovery: she had started to move some limbs. A few days went by, and her health returned completely, in utter contradiction to the medical prognosis, which predicted a long period of illness and convalescence.

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