Muslim lawsuit, response rile Ohio pork industry

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A decision by Ohio officials to remove all pork products from prison menus in response to a lawsuit by Muslim inmates is not sitting well with the state's pork producers and processors.

Both promise action of their own, including a possible counter lawsuit, to address what they consider an unfair and illogical decision.

"We really think it's not in the best interest, frankly, of the whole prison system," said Dick Isler, executive director of the Ohio Pork Producers Council. "It seems like we're letting a small group make the rules when it really isn't in the best interest of the rest of prisoners."

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Headlines/Def ... id=1451548

I like pork rinds myself...

What you're seeing is pure, whacky political correctness.

there's no good reason to remove pork products from the prison menu.
(I don't even think this is what the in-mate requested)

Oh, those sneaky Muslims! They'll stop at nothing until.... wait, might there be more to this story that Outdoor might initially have quoted? Hmmmm....

Ironically, the inmates' lawsuit doesn't involve pork at all; it demands that non-pork meats like beef come from animals slaughtered according to Islamic law. But the prisons system responded by simply removing pork as an option altogether.

Assistant prisons director Steven Huffman has spoken with Isler, but the system isn't changing its mind, spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said Wednesday.

She said she couldn't comment on the lawsuit specifically, but said removing pork assures that inmates' religious practices aren't jeopardized by pork coming into contact with other food during preparation.

The prison system first took pork off the menu in 2009 after, in a money-saving attempt, it closed the pig farm and processing facility it operated to provide meat for inmates.

Last year, after lobbying by pork producers, the system added pork rib patties back to the menu twice a month.

So, it was removed as a cost saving measure in 2009. Hmmm. Then, after lobbying by the pork industry, it was reinstated. And the lawsuit is actually about the method of slaughter, not actual pork itself. Hmmmm.

Oh, well. Another day, another outrage.

Kate:

You do understand that Muslims and Jews cannot eat Pork based on their religious dietary laws, don't you?

You are the outrage of the day.

Kate just for you..
(AP) COLUMBUS, Ohio - A Muslim death row inmate says the Ohio state prison system is denying him meals prepared according to Islamic law while at the same time providing kosher meals to Jewish prisoners, according to a federal lawsuit that alleges a civil rights violation.

The state said Monday that it has already removed pork from its menus in response to the lawsuit brought by condemned inmate Abdul Awkal, who argues the prison system's failure to provide halal meals is a restraint on his religious freedoms.

Awkal, joined by a second inmate not on death row, says the vegetarian and non-pork options offered by the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction aren't good enough. The inmates say food must be prepared in specific fashion, such as ensuring that an animal is butchered by slitting its throat and draining its blood, to conform to Islamic beliefs.

"The issue of eating Halal meals is especially important to me because I face a death sentence," Awkal said in a filing in federal court earlier this year. "It is important to me that I follow the requirements of my faith as I approach death."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/ ... 5105.shtml

Nmysys wrote: Kate:

You do understand that Muslims and Jews cannot eat Pork based on their religious dietary laws, don't you?

You are the outrage of the day.

Oh, I understand, Nmysys. It's just that Outdoor's thread title would make it seem like pork was removed from the menu because of a lawsuit, when it fact, it wasn't. The lawsuit is over slaughter methods. They removed the pork from the menu in 2009 for cost savings, then brought it back and then removed it again- this time as a "pre-emptive" attempt to eliminate contact between pork and other meats.

The removal of the pork from the menu has nothing to do with the lawsuit.

The in-mate never asked that pork be removed from the menu.

He asked that he be served food that he be served food that was appropriately prepared
(a courtesy that is already extended to Jewish inmates).

I say let him eat matzah ......

I say can't do the time don't do the crime