Suit Seeks Halal Meals In Florida Jails

Yesterday in Florida, the ACLU and CAIR filed a class action lawsuit seeking to require Miami-Dade County jails to serve Halal meals to Muslim inmates. (ACLU press release). The complaint (full text) in CAIR Florida, Inc. v. Miami-Dade County, (SD FL, filed 9/3/2015), contends that denying Halal meals to Muslim inmates while furnishing kosher meals to Jewish inmates violates RLUIPA, and the free exercise and equal protection clauses of the U.S. and Florida constitutions. Prior to October 2014, Muslim inmates could obtain the kosher diet; since then they are required to eat the from the general population menu. Miami Herald reports on the lawsuit.