Special Diet Requests

From Little Green Footballs, we get this story of a prisoner suing the Corrections system over dietary requirements. He wants to eat camel and ox meat.

It reminds me of my time in Corrections. We often got sued. Prisoners have lots of time to think about the supposed injustice of their incarceration. They have paper and pen and write the Courts, proclaiming that they are being mistreated.

We often tried to accomodate special dietary requirements. The kitchen routinely cooked salt-free, or reduced fat meals for people who had medical dietary requirements. Inmates were also given the option of pork-free meals for religious considerations. Other than that, they were free to not eat.

Then, along comes the group of rednecks, who claimed that they were part of a religious group that required ribeye steak, baked potato, salad, and cold beer for the evening meal every Friday night. They actually sued in District Court, claiming that the refusal of the prison to accomodate their special religious dietary requirements constituted cruel and unusual punishment.

We in the prison gave them points for originality and creativity, but a slim chance of winning their suit.

The District Court agreed and dismissed the suit as frivolous.

The Courts in Massachusetts should make the same finding.