Condemned inmate on food strike over kosher diet

Editor's note: This Shark is appalled by the capriciousness built  into our legal system that allows this monster to protest his diet.  The monsters within the Probate Court of Cook County who are responsible for mining the gold teeth from Alice R. Gore's mouth are also free. Free to enjoy their Malibu beach house; free to practice their perverted version of the law on helpless wards. Disgusting! Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com     Condemned inmate on food strike over kosher diet By PAT EATON-ROBB Associated Press

US Video Buy AP Photo Reprints Documents Police report on New Britain home invasion HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- A Connecticut inmate awaiting execution for his role in the killings of a woman and her two daughters during a violent home invasion says he is refusing to eat prison food that he believes is not kosher. Steven Hayes sued the Department of Correction in August, alleging it would not serve him a kosher diet. He filed an amended complaint on Nov. 7, which was made public on Wednesday, detailing what he describes as "extreme weight loss." Hayes and another man, Joshua Komisarjevsky, were sentenced to die for the murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela, at the family's home in Cheshire. The victims were tied up, two of them were sexually assaulted and their bodies were found after the home was set on fire. Hawke-Petit's husband, Dr. William Petit, was severely beaten but survived. Hayes describes himself in the lawsuit as an Orthodox Jew and says he's been requesting a kosher diet since May 2013. He says he has suffered "almost two years of emotional injury from having to choose between following God and starving or choosing sin to survive." In his handwritten amended complaint, Hayes says he hasn't eaten any nonkosher food since Aug. 24, and now weighs less than 120 pounds. State prison documents show the 5-foot-7 Hayes weighed 170 pounds in 2007. Karen Martucci, a spokeswoman for the Correction Department, said Hayes has denied to prison officials that he is on a hunger strike. She said she could not comment on the lawsuit, but she said inmates with religious issues are offered what is known as "common fare" meals which "meet all nutritional requirements and accommodate recognized religious dietary restrictions." Hayes contends the kosher food brought into the prison is contaminated during the preparation in the use of pots, pans, preparation surfaces and appliances that also are used to cook nonkosher food. He said the department does not have a "reliable orthodox certification that `guarantees' with certainty that the food and process is kosher." He writes that his religion requires "strict adherence, not close enough." Hayes also alleges he has been the subject of other religious discrimination in prison and was placed on a suicide watch for observing a fast during the Yom Kippur holiday last year. This is not his first lawsuit against the department. In past litigation, none of which has been successful, Hayes has complained about his mental health care, harassment from prison staff and the temperature in his cell.