OK: Judge Says DOC Will Have To Pay Inmates' Kosher Meals For Now

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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ The Oklahoma Department of Corrections will, for now, have to pay for three state inmates to eat kosher food, a federal judge ruled Friday.

The temporary order issued by U.S. District Judge Lee R. West requires the state to pick up the tab for the meals until a final court decision on the inmates' claim is reached.

Joseph Harp Correctional Center inmates Jon Andrew Cottriel, 45; Jerry Harmon, 50; and Dennis Earl Fulbright, 36, have argued that the department's policy of not providing free kosher meals violates their right to freely exercise religion

Corrections officials testified that serving the kosher meals to everybody who would want them would cost more than $3 million a year and cause disruptions with inmates. West found that the three inmates' right to freely exercise their Orthodox Jewish religion outweighs state expenses in providing such meals