Author: CLARENCE MABIN

Source: The Lincoln Journal Star

http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2007/08/03/news/local/doc46b2757e970cf806390274.txt

Tecumseh State Correctional Institution officials and a Muslim inmate are attempting to revise food service at the prison so the inmate can have access to kosher foods.

U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Bataillon ordered the revision after the inmate, Mohamed El-Tabech, sued corrections officials under the U.S. Constitution and the Religious Land Use and Institutional Persons Act.

The 2000 act prohibits governments from imposing a substantial burden on inmates’ religious practices without a “compelling governmental interest” and unless the burden is the least restrictive to achieve that interest.