Do Prison Inmates Have A Right To Vegetarian Meals?

INTRODUCTION

There are many issues surrounding the availability of vegetarian food in prison, and there is much variety in the way different prison systems have addressed these issues. While some prisoners are given limited rights to receive certain diets, including those prisoners with medical conditions and those of certain religious denominations, there are many factors that play a role in a prison's decision of whether to provide vegetarian food.

First, some prison employees have expressed their belief even though it may be unfounded, that inmates often use food as a way to make them feel special. Getting a vegetarian diet when thousands of other inmates have something else is sometimes a psychological ploy used by an inmate in an effort to feel special or different. They may also feel that inmates use food to try to draw attention to themselves. For some employees, it seems that once one inmate gets a special meal, many other inmates suddenly want a special meal. For these reasons, prisons usually require that special diets be prescribed by a physician for medical reasons, or by a chaplain for religious reasons. Prisons want to make sure that an inmate is truly a vegetarian before special provisions are arranged.

Next, prisons are constantly struggling to provide nutritious meals to thousands of prisoners at the lowest cost possible. To keep costs low, uniform meals are essential. Prison officials often claim that it is very difficult for prisons to afford special meals for individual prisoners. This is the main excuse that prisons use for denying requests for vegetarian or vegan meals.

FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS

Do prisoners have a right to vegetarian meals? In order to answer this question, a discussion of the First Amendment right to freedom of religion is necessary. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ..." Courts, as well as legal scholars, have attempted to define religion; however, it is next to impossible to define it in a way with which everyone agrees on. Religion can be defined either in a broad or narrow manner, and this definition can mean the difference between rights and no rights for an inmate to practice a certain set of beliefs, or "religion."

In 1965, the Supreme Court addressed the definition of religion in United States v. Seeger, 380 US 163, 85 S. Ct. 850 (1965), as it applied to a statute that allowed religious objectors to refrain from being drafted to military service. The Court declared that the statute's definition would be interpreted to include any "sincere and meaningful" belief that "occupies a place in the life of its possessor parallel to that filled by the orthodox belief in God of one who clearly qualifies for the exemption" (Id. at 166). The Court quotes Dr. David Saville Muzzey, a leader in the Ethical Cultural Movement: "Religion, for all the various definitions that have been given of it, must surely mean the devotion of man to the highest ideal that he can conceive. And that ideal is a community of spirits in which the latent moral potentialities of men shall have been elicited by their reciprocal endeavors to cultivate the best in their fellow men." In addition, the Court quotes Justice Douglas in US v. Ballard, 322 US 78, 86, 64 S. Ct. 882, 886 (1944): "Men may believe what they cannot prove. They may not be put to the proof of their religious doctrines or beliefs. Religious experiences which are as real as life to some may be incomprehensible to others." As a result of this broad definition, the truth of a belief may not be questioned; however, the sincerity of a belief must be determined based on the facts of each case.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) also provides a broad definition of religion in Title VII cases. The EEOC Guidelines, 29 CFR 1605 (1985), state that religious beliefs are "moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong which are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views." In addition, the EEOC has also stated that the protections of Title VII extend not only to traditional religious beliefs, but to moral and ethical beliefs as well (45 FED. REG. At 72, 611 (1980) [citing the analysis applied by the Supreme Court in US v. Seeger, 380 US 163 (1964), and Welsh v. US, 398 US 333 (1970)].

IS ETHICAL VEGANISM A RELIGION?

The previous examples of broad definitions of religion are analogous to the argument that ethical veganism should either be recognized as a religion, or alternatively, protected as a class in the same way that religion is. As the Court set out in Welsh, 398 US at 340, "[I]f an individual deeply and sincerely holds beliefs that are purely ethical or moral in source and content but that nevertheless impose upon him a duty of conscience to refrain from participating in any war at any time, those beliefs certainly occupy in the life of that individual a place parallel to that filled by God in traditionally religious persons." By analogy, an inmate who sincerely holds a strong ethical or moral belief in refraining from consuming meat, or any animal by-products, could be said to hold beliefs occupying a place parallel to that filled by God in religious persons, and, therefore, the inmate should be entitled to an alternative to meat and animal by-products.