Pork is officially off the menu at U.S. federal prisons.

With the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1, the 206,000 inmates housed in 122 federal penitentiaries are no longer being served pork products.

Edmond Ross, a spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons, told The Washington Post on Friday that “pork has been the lowest-rated food by inmates for several years.” It also became increasingly expensive for the government to purchase pork products for the prisons, according to Ross, though specific numbers were not provided.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The National Pork Producers Council is working on a strategy to overturn the ruling. Pork products, including rinds and precooked bacon, are still available to inmates via the prison commissary provided they can pay.

Observant Muslims and Jews refrain from eating pork.

Vegetarian, kosher and halal options are supposed to be made available to inmates, though a number of lawsuits have cropped up in recent years over dietary accommodations in prison.

In May, a federal judge ordered that Florida prisoners who request kosher meals must receive them. The lawsuit was filed by the Justice Department against the Florida Department of Corrections on behalf of 13 inmates. Florida had canceled its kosher meal service in 2007, citing cost as the reason. Some 250 inmates, including many Muslims, had been receiving the kosher meals.

Ross did not say whether there had been an uptick in Muslim and Jewish prisoners that could have influenced the decision.

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.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re in the middle of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 22.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Make a Passover Gift Today!

$90 $180

$360

Other amount