January 8, 2012

(JTA) — A Jewish prison inmate has filed a complaint alleging that the Nevada Department of Corrections is refusing to serve him kosher meals.

It is the second time that Howard Ackerman has taken legal action to ensure that he receives kosher food.

Ackerman, 50, an Orthodox Jew, is serving a life sentence for kidnapping. In June, 2011, he filed a lawsuit after reports that the Department of Corrections would be discontinuing kosher meals.

He complained then that the prison system would be violating the First Amendment’s protection of his free practice of religion. The prison system announced after the lawsuit that it was changing its meal plan but would not dicontinue inmates’ kosher meals.

In a lawsuit filed last week, Ackerman said that he was transferred to a new prison where he cannot get kosher food in retaliation for the first lawsuit.
 

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