Emergency Transfer Request Denied in Kosher Prison Food Case
A federal judge rejected a request by a Venezuelan Jewish detainee for an emergency transfer from an Alabama prison over complaints that it was not providing kosher meals.
In a ruling last week on the case of Rafael Alberto Lloveras Linares, U.S. District Court Judge Karon Bowdre found that Linares was offered an alternative kosher diet, although he complained that it was not prepared in accordance with Jewish tradition, according to a report by AL.com, the online edition of the Huntsville Times.
Linares, a federal immigration detainee, had asked to be transferred from the Etowah County jail in Huntsville to a prison in New Jersey or Florida. He alleged that he was assaulted by other prisoners after filing suit to demand kosher food.
Linares requested the injunction for an emergency transfer on May 1 — and claimed he was assaulted four days later — after submitting his original complaint about the kosher food on April 21. He filed an additional lawsuit last week against officials at the Etowah County jail for allegedly failing to address the assault, the Huntsville Times reported. Linares’ original lawsuit about the kosher food will proceed in court.
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