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By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation,
Three Muslim prisoners are suing the Oregon Department of Corrections, alleging their constitutional rights are being violated because they aren’t served pork-free meals that comply with their Islamic dietary restrictions, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive [6]. They also say prison officials won’t let them practice their communal prayer and celebrate their religious holidays and festivals while accommodating faith practices by people of other religions. They filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Pendleton as two of the men are incarcerated in Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution. The third has been released.
One significant example of a Supreme Court decision pertaining to Muslim inmates and religious accommodations is the 2015 case of Holt v. Hobbs. The case included a Muslim prisoner in Arkansas who wanted to grow a beard, which was against prison rules but was an important part of his faith. The Supreme Court unanimously decided in the inmate’s favor, finding that the grooming policy of the Arkansas Department of Correction significantly interfered with his religious practice and that the prison’s defenses of the restriction were insufficient to overcome the inmate’s religious beliefs.