Muslim Inmate Sues State Over 'Halal' Meat Requests

Always with the lawsuits. Courant

A Muslim inmate at Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center has filed a federal lawsuit, alleging that prison officials ignored his requests for meals that conform to his religious standards.

Ricardo Collins, 27, said he was denied his constitutional right to freedom of religion because his prison diet lacked meat that was "halal," or slaughtered in accordance with Islamic law.

"I am a American Muslim and I am being denied the halal meat for the two Islamic feast days," Collins wrote in the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court on Dec. 23. "The halal meat for the two feasts have great 'spiritual meaning' to the Muslim community all over the world."