Nevada - Corrections Denies It's Ending Kosher Meal Service

The Nevada Department of Corrections is denying allegations in a lawsuit that it intends to discontinue service of kosher meals to inmates.

Attorneys for prisoner Howard Ackerman, an Orthodox Jew, filed suit June 1 in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas to block what they said was a plan that would interfere with the ability of Orthodox Jews to observe the tenets of their religion.

Attorneys from the office of Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, representing the prison system, filed court papers this week saying that while new menu options are being considered, there is no plan to eliminate service of kosher food.

"The status quo that Ackerman seeks is already the current state of affairs he enjoys: no new menu has been implemented and defendants are not yet certain what the menu will be or when it might be implemented," the attorneys for the state wrote in their filing.

"For some time now, the NDOC (Department of Corrections) has been formulating a 'common-fare' menu and related food-preparation protocols to accommodate the religious needs of NDOC inmates. However, the NDOC does not yet know what final form the menu or protocols will take.

"To be sure, the menu and protocols are still in a state of flux, and the NDOC intends to have the menu be certified as kosher," the state’s reply said.