Officials at a Michigan jail appear to be confused about whether they serve pork products to inmates, but a federal judge still ruled that a Muslim terrorism suspect was not entitled to a pork-free diet.

“Plaintiff has not alleged that he is malnourished,” Chief U.S. District Judge Bernard A. Friedman said in summarily dismissing Karim Koubriti's First Amendment claim. “He has merely alleged that he has a constitutional right to pork-free meals. He does not.”

Koubriti, an alleged member of a Detroit “sleeper cell” who was arrested shortly after 9/11, claimed sheriff's deputies at the Wayne County Jail deliberately served him pork even though “he repeatedly informed [them] that he was Muslim and not allowed to eat pork.” His request for a pork-free diet was refused, he said, violating his right to freely exercise his religion.

In a July 27, 2006 affidavit filed with the summary judgment motion, the jail's food service director said pork hadn't been served at the jail for 13 years and “any meat product served at the facility is processed turkey or chicken or beef.”

“[W]e have a high Muslim population and do this to accommodate them,” Donnie Sharp noted.

After a review of the jail's menus showed that “Ham and Cheese on Bun” and “3 oz. Sliced Ham” are served almost every Saturday for dinner, Sharp tried to explain the contradiction in a second affidavit:

[A]ny meat product served at the facility is processed turkey or chicken or beef, despite once in a great while being called “ham sandwich” or “ham steak” or “ham fried rice” which are in actuality processed beef, turkey or chicken.

Judge Friedman said Sharp's “characterization of 'once in a great while' is off the mark,” given the frequent appearances of ham on the Saturday dinner menu. But the genuine issue of fact “as to whether pork products are served to the inmates” was not enough for Koubriti to survive summary judgment.

Non-pork products were listed on the Saturday dinner menu, Friedman said in his opinion, and

much of Plaintiff’s argument that Defendants served him pork is based on the fact that he got “a headache and fever” after he ate a certain meat item. Such evidence seems incredibly speculative.

Friedman allowed Koubriti to proceed to trial on claims related to being strip-searched by deputies and confined to a cell for 23 hours a day without opportunity for physical exercise or recreation.

Koubriti was convicted in 2003 of supporting terrorism, but a judge threw out the conviction because of prosecutorial misconduct.

By Matthew Heller
1/22/07