Needs of Jewish Prison Inmates Discussed at U.S. Civil Rights Unit

The United States Civil Rights Commission was told at hearings here by spokesmen for Jewish organizations that there should be greater sensitivity on the part of prison officials to the religious needs of Jewish inmates. The spokesmen were Dennis Rapps, executive director of the National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs (COLPA); Judah Lifshitz, an attorney who is a member of the Washington chapter of COLPA; and Marc Stern, who testified for the American Jewish Congress.

The Civil Rights Commission serves as a national clearing house for civil rights information, sponsoring national and regional conferences and consultations as part of its fact-gathering functions. The problem of religious discrimination against minorities in employment was a principal theme of the first day of the hearings on April 9. Problems of prison inmates of minority groups was discussed at the second day on April 10.

Stern indicated there was general agreement that prison administrators are now more sensitive to the religious rights of inmates, including Jews. Much of the discussion centered around the Jewish dietary laws but attention was also given to questions of the Sabbath and holy days and to insensitivity and a lock of understanding intentionally or unintentionally, of prison officials, particularly guards, Stern said.

Prison officials cited budgetary and protection problems as reasons for their failure to accommodate such prisoners as much as they would like. Several Commission members suggested during the discussion that one solution might be to transfer prisoners of one religion either to one prison on to one section of a prison to minimize the problems, including security and classification difficulties.

RELIGION SHOULD BE IRRELEVANT

Stern responded that the American Jewish Congress was vigorously opposed to such plans, asserting that religion should be irrelevant in the operation of government programs. He also contended that such a plan would deny to the segregated inmates the full benefits of services available within a prison system.

Citing the fact that some training programs exist only in some prisons, Stern said if a Jewish inmate wanting kosher food was not in such a prison, he would have to choose between kosher food and the training program. He said this was currently happening in New York State and that the AJCongress, together with the New York Board of Rabbis, was engaged in an effort to expand the availability of kosher food in prisons in the state.

Lifshitz contended that the issues of special diet, (waivers of personal oppearance rules, and holy day observances for minority group prisoners must not be viewed as they now often are, as variations from the nom. Rather, he told the Commission, the question is whether all prisoners will be treated equally in the sense that all will be allowed expression of their religious needs.

Testifying as a member of a panel on employment discrimination, Rapps said one of the basic problems for religious minorities is that their needs are “widely misunderstood” in the general community Urges Reasonable Accommodation.

URGES REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

Rapps said many believe that any accommodation to the requirements of religious minority members constitutes “preferential treatment” and an “unwarranted deviation from the norm.” He said that view resulted in mindless discrimination and unnecessary hardship and he urged the Commission to do all it could to promote general acceptance of the concept of reasonable accommodation to the religious needs of minorities as an aspect of religious freedom.

He said the misunderstanding stems from the fact that members of majority faiths have their religious needs met in general societal practices. He mentioned, as an example, that Sunday observers generally do not have a problem about work on Sundays since businesses are usually closed on Sundays in ###ognition of the practices of the majority.Accordingly, he contended, reasonable accommodation to the needs of Saturday observers is not a “preference” but rather an “equalizing concept,” placing members of minority religious groups in the same position as those of the majority. Thus seen, he said, job accommodation to the religious needs of minorities is properly viewed as an aspect of religious freedom. He said the “real issue” for Sabbath observers is not whether they require “preferences” but whether they can remain true to their faith and still be gainfully employed.

The COLPA spokesman participated in the hearings as a representative of the Orthodox Jewish community, on behalf of Agudath Israel of America, the National Council of Young Israel and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations.