Associated Press
MIAMI — The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and four inmates have filed a federal lawsuit challenging Miami-Dade County’s refusal to provide religious-based meals to Muslims.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday, says that the policy in place since October 2014 violates the rights of Muslim inmates to exercise their religion and asks a judge to strike it down. The county provides kosher meals for Jewish inmates but not the halal meals requested by Muslims.
Instead, the lawsuit says, Muslims are required to eat a general population diet that does not meet religious standards that prohibit certain animals, requires animals to be slaughtered in a particular way, and mandates that halal foods not come into contact with other foods.
A spokeswoman for the Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department declined to comment on the lawsuit.