Jewish Inmate Demands Transfer in Alabama Prison Kosher Food Fight

Keeping Kosher: Rabbi Sholom Lipskar wraps tefillin with a prisoner in a Florida jail. Image by COURTESY OF ALEPH INSTITUTE
A Jewish man being held in an Alabama prison who sued the federal government demanding to be served kosher food has asked a federal judge to grant a transfer to another prison.
Rafael Alberto Lloveras Linares, a federal immigration detainee from Venezuela, has asked to be transferred to a facility in Miami or Newark, N.J. where he can have a kosher meal provided by a “Jewish catering service,” according to Jewish traditions and federal standards, the online edition of the Huntsville Times Al.com, reported.
Linares on May 1 filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Birmingham saying he was in danger from fellow inmates in the Etowah County Jail, and arguing that he had been moved to an area in the prison with the most dangerous inmates in retaliation for the lawsuit on kosher meals which had been filed in late April.
Four days later he was assaulted by six inmates , according to the emergency request for a transfer filed late last week, Al.com reported.
Linares claims that he is not being served kosher meals as required by federal law. He also has asked to observe the Sabbath, meet monthly with a rabbi and celebrate the major Jewish holidays.
A federal law passed in 2000 calls on state prisons services to accommodate the religious practices of prisoners whenever possible.
Linares has been detained by the immigration agency since July 2010, when he was arrested for overstaying a 1995 tourist visa. He applied for asylum, saying that as a Jew in Venezuela his life is in danger.
A federal judge ordered that Linares be deported, but he has refused to board planes to return him to Venezuela four times. Linares has an arrest record that includes convictions for trespassing, driving with a suspended license and eluding law enforcement, according to the Huntsville Times.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 3
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 4
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture I have seen the future of America — in a pastrami sandwich in Queens
-
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.