The State Correctional Facility at Auburn, N.Y., a maximum security prison, has agreed to provide Kosher food for Jewish inmates, it was announced by the American Jewish Congress and New York Board of Rabbis. Implementation of the agreement, which was reached April 30, was delayed by the prison-guard strike, which ended two weeks ago. The Jewish organizations, which worked out the settlement on behalf of nine Auburn inmates seeking kosher diets, said the kosher food program would be put into effect immediately.
The program will provide kosher TV dinners to inmates twice a day, as is the case in the state maximum security facility at Greenhaven, according to Marc Stern, staff counsel for the AJCongress, who helped work out the agreement. He said that while not all maximum security prisons in the state are covered, most Jewish maximum-security inmates will be provided with kosher food. However, prisoners in medium- and minimum-security facilities still do not have access to a kosher diet.
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