Opinion ID: 2787969
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Kosher Diet

Text: In August 2010 Stavenjord submitted a request for a vegan diet to the kitchen manager at Spring Creek Correctional Center (Spring Creek) in Seward, where he was then incarcerated. The request was granted, and Stavenjord remained on a vegan diet for two months. In October he asked that this diet be discontinued, writing: Please remove my name from the vegan diet list. Try tasting the food once in a while. I can’t believe you allow such poor quality in your kitchen. -2- 6989 Three months later, in January 2011, Stavenjord submitted a request “to be placed on a Kosher diet, for religious reasons.” Chaplain Mike Ensch, the Chaplaincy Coordinator for the Department, reviewed this request and recommended that it be denied: The Department of Corrections will only authorize vegetarian or vegan for [Stavenjord’s] religious diet. This is a fairly standard practice in many Correctional systems in the USA and is adequate for his religion. The superintendent of Spring Creek, Craig Turnbull, adopted Ensch’s recommendation, writing, “No reason to approve this preference. Not related to Buddhist faith.” Stavenjord appealed Turnbull’s decision, arguing: It is a substantial burden on my religious practice to be denied a religious (kosher) diet. Both Ensch and Turnbull are acting as “arbiters-of-orthodoxy concerning what Buddhist[s] require” when neither are Buddhist or are knowledg[e]able in Stavenjord’s practice of Madhyamaka Buddhism. Timothy Lyden, the Standards Administrator for the Department, responded in a letter dated May 27, 2011, writing: I have carefully reviewed documentation in relation to your request. However, you have not provided any information indicating that the practice of Madhyamaka Buddhism prescribes a kosher diet. In addition, I have not been able to find any evidence of this claim after extensive review of resources on Madhyamaka Buddhism. Based upon this information, I do not find that your desire for a kosher diet [can] be established to be any more than a personal preference. As a result, I uphold the previous decisions rendered on this grievance. This was the Department’s final action concerning Stavenjord’s request for a Kosher diet. -3- 6989