An inmate has filed a lawsuit against the D.C. Department of Corrections after he claimed chaplains did not provide kosher meals he would otherwise be entitled to as a Jewish detainee in its correctional facilities.
A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia on Thursday alleged that officials unlawfully refused to provide Riley Benjamin, who has been in D.C. custody since July 2022, with kosher meals unless he submitted to external verification of his faith.
That verification placed “an excessive and undue burden” that isn’t exercised over Christian or Muslim inmates, an ACLU spokesperson said.
“D.C. Jail officials’ practice of denying kosher meal requests to Jewish people unless they can provide third-party proof of their religion, either through a rabbi or a formal letter of conversion, violates federal law and ignores the deeply personal nature of faith and spirituality,” Laura Follansbee, a legal fellow at the ACLU of D.C. and counsel for Benjamin, said in a news release.
Benjamin shared concern for himself and other inmates identifying as Jewish.
“My Jewish faith is one of the few things that has sustained me during this tough time in my life while I’ve been locked up. It’s discriminatory and wrong for Reverend Colbert and Chaplain Allen, who are people of faith themselves, to deny me the opportunity to keep kosher by imposing proof requirements that don’t apply to people of other religions,” Benjamin said.
The filing in D.C.’s District Court looks to keep the city’s correctional department from imposing requirements, such as external verification, on Jewish people. It also calls for compensation to “set a precedent that protects the right of Jewish people and individuals of all faith to obtain religious accommodations.”
Attorneys argue that program leaders — Supervisory Chaplain for D.C. Corrections Rev. Nicole Colbert, Chaplain Rev. Jimmie Allen and Deputy Director for Education, Reentry and Case Management Jacqueline Williams — denied requests from Benjamin during his time in the facility.
“Plaintiff Riley Benjamin has been Jewish for several years,” the filing states, adding that his friends and fiancee know his religious affiliation.
Authorities at the jail also confirmed that Benjamin is classified as Jewish in the case management system and has been throughout his incarceration, the filing alleged.
The lawsuit claimed that Benjamin sent multiple requests for kosher meals using a request slip and was denied on both Sept. 27 and Dec. 28. The denial letter, signed by Williams, included a statement of department of corrections policy that required verification of faith affiliation before a religious diet could be approved.
Department of Corrections policies require that religious diets be restricted to inmates based on their listed religious preferences. Preferences listed in corrections databases can be changed once per year and are reviewed by chaplains, according to the policy.
Officials refused requests for religious accommodations without external verification, the filing claimed, adding that Colbert would bring a rabbi into the jail to evaluate and formally convert Benjamin.
“No rabbi ever arrived to speak with Mr. Benjamin,” the suit alleged.
The filing named two others who were also denied kosher meals under an external verification practice. Benjamin claimed that “multiple people in DOC custody who identified themselves as Jewish” were denied accommodations.
WTOP has reached out to the D.C. Department of Corrections for more information on its policies and procedures surrounding religious identity and its external verification requirement.
Benjamin was arrested and is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Maurice McRae, 31, months after a shooting in February.
