Scottish Prison Cracks Down On Inmates Claiming To Be Jewish For Better Food
HMP Edinburgh, in Scotland Image by Geograph
By Ari Feldman July 19, 2019
In 2016 there were nine Jews in Her Majesty’s Prison Edinburgh. The next year, there were 100. Now, there are 23. What is going on?
Scottish prison authorities recently cracked down on inmates claiming to be Jewish in HMP Edinburgh in order to receive kosher — and better — food, The Scotsman reported. The prison is already saving loads of money — excess of £250,000 each year, since a kosher meal costs on average four times as much to produce as a regular meal. (Another outlet said that the crackdown lowered catering costs by £80,000.)
“Ever since one guy converted to Judaism we’ve seen a huge rise in the number claiming to be Jewish as they saw the meals were better,” one source told the Scotsman.
Scottish Prison Service has said that the scam spread to other prisons in the system. It’s possible the inmates were inspired by the Netflix show “Orange Is The New Black,” in which the character Cindy Hayes converts to Judaism in order to get better food.
In the wake of the scam, the SPS said that it has made its process for registering as Jewish more rigorous across its system.
Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aefeldman
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.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Hamas and Trump say Edan Alexander to be freed from Gaza after US negotiates release
-
Fast Forward In first Sunday address, Pope Leo XIV calls for ceasefire in Gaza, release of hostages
-
Fast Forward Huckabee denies rift between Netanyahu and Trump as US actions in Middle East appear to leave out Israel
-
Fast Forward Federal security grants to synagogues are resuming after two-month Trump freeze
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 2
Opinion It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump
- 3
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
- 4
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Hamas and Trump say Edan Alexander to be freed from Gaza after US negotiates release
-
Culture Should Diaspora Jews be buried in Israel? A rabbi responds
-
Fast Forward In first Sunday address, Pope Leo XIV calls for ceasefire in Gaza, release of hostages
-
Fast Forward Huckabee denies rift between Netanyahu and Trump as US actions in Middle East appear to leave out Israel
-
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.