Rep. Edward I. Koch (D.NY) has urged that kosher food be supplied to observant Jews at the Allenwood (Pa.) Federal Penitentiary, the prison where Rabbi Meir Kahane is scheduled to serve the rest of a one-year prison term.
In a letter to Norman Carlson, director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Koch stated that special arrangements were frequently made in the prison system, as in the case of the Black Muslim population, and it would similarly be reasonable to meet the needs of the Orthodox Jewish inmate. Some of the prisons already serve kosher meals where necessary.
Last week, Kahane had protested the fact that he will be unable to observe kosher dietary laws when he enters Allenwood Prison despite an order by Federal Judge Jack Weinstein. Koch pointed out in his letter to Carlson that while he disagreed with Kahane’s contention that he is a political prisoner, he did feel that the rabbi’s not being allowed kosher meals would give added weight to this argument.
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