NJ Jail Ends Kosher and Halal Meals

The Passaic County, New Jersey jail has stopped serving halal and kosher meals to inmates, according to a report yesterday from the Bergen County Record. The change comes during Ramadan and as the jail is being audited by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General after immigration detainees complained of poor conditions and abuse. An internal jail memo dated Monday stated, "As of 10/17/05 there will be no more kosher meals. The religious diet tray will be a vegetarian diet tray." Federal immigration detention centers are required to provide food that is prepared according to religious customs. The jail had been ordering prepackaged kosher and halal meals, but stopped because it was too expensive. The sheriff's office said that the jail will now make its own halal and kosher meals by adding two layers of plastic wrap to the tray. But inmates said the two sheets of wrap and absence of meat does not meet their religious standards.