California Prisons Short On Jewish Chaplains To Implement Lawsuit Settlement

In 2003, the state of California settled a class action lawsuit brought by an Orthodox Jewish prisoner seeking kosher food while in prison. As part of the settlement, the state agreed to make good-faith efforts to have kosher food available in all of its 33 prisons by 2006. This week's Forward reports that this promise has led to a scramble to find enough Jewish chaplains to supervise preparation of kosher food in that number of prisons. Currently the state has 24 Jewish chaplains, nine of whom are Chabad rabbis. Overall the state employs 185 chaplains from five faiths--Protestants, Catholics, Native Americans, Jews and Muslims. Jews make up less than 1% of California's prison inmates. Texas has dealt with a similar problem by placing all 23 of its Jewish inmates who have requested kosher food into one prison.