Parent-Killing Jewish Inmate Wins Round in Kosher Meals Fight
An Orthodox Jewish prison inmate from Florida who was convicted of murdering both his parents has won a key battle in his court fight to get kosher prison meals.
A federal appeals court reinstated Bruce Rich’s lawsuit against the Florida Department of Corrections, which denied him the special meals after eliminating them in a cost-cutting measure.
In 2010, Rich sued, claiming Florida violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 by forcing him to choose between religious practice and adequate nutrition. The state said it needed to control costs and maintain security.
But the appeals court ruled that, “the evidence submitted by the [DOC] on summary judgment in support of its position is insubstantial.”
The case will now head to federal district court for further proceedings. The Florida DOC is also involved in another lawsuit by the United States Department of Justice over ending its kosher meals even for religious Jewish inmates.
In 1995, Rich was found guilty of shooting and killing his parents, Irwn and Blanche Rich in their Florida home.
Authorities said he staged the crime to look like a murder-suicide.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30