Inmates Going "Kosher" Is Spiking the Cost of Prison Meals
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What to do when thousands of prison inmates in Florida decide to go kosher? This week, the New York Times shares an intriguing story from the Sunshine State, where a court order has mandated that kosher meals be served to inmates who observe Jewish dietary laws.
Trouble is, after the order went through, a lot of people are suddenly proclaiming that they’re kosher. According to the Times, 4,417 Florida inmates have requested the meals, fueling suspicions that the motivations of many are far from religious.
Prison food isn’t the stuff of gourmet magazines, but prepackaged kosher meals come sealed; some inmates believe this makes them less likely to be contaminated (or past their expiration date). Others think they just taste better. We’re not experts on prison cuisine, but judging by pretty much everything we saw served up in the Netflix dramedy ”Orange Is the New Black,” we’re inclined to agree that they don’t look especially delicious.
The problem is the price tag; in Florida prisons, kosher meals cost $7, whereas a standard meal costs only $1.54.
But what does it means to be kosher, anyways? Here’s a short primer:
1. Kosher meat must be slaughtered according to Jewish law.
This includes following rules such as using the right sort of knife, severing the animal’s throat in a precise way, and extracting blood from the meat. These things must be supervised by a mashgiach, an observant Jewish man or woman chosen by a rabbi.
2. Don’t mix meat and dairy.
This rule goes back to a line in the Jewish holy book, the Torah: "Do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk.”
3. No pork or shellfish.
The Torah states that Jews can only eat animals that chew their cud (regurgitate their food and chew it a second time, like cows) and have split hooves (like goats or sheep). Although pigs have cloven hooves, they don’t chew their cud, which means a kosher house is a no-bacon zone. Also, Jews are only allowed to eat fish with both fins and scales, which rules out shellfish.
4. Certain parts of kosher animals are off-limits.
Forbidden parts include the fat of and around the tail, kidneys, the fat on the kidneys, the meat around the sciatic nerve, and the blood that was in veins or arteries at the time of an animal’s death.
There are other nitty gritty rules pertaining to kosher dining, too, which you can check out here.
The Times doesn’t go into detail about why kosher meals are more expensive (although it’s a safe bet that observing these rules drives up their price). Can Florida prisons accommodate scores of possible fakers without denying kosher meals to those whose religion necessitates them? And perhaps even trickier, can they afford it?
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