Blog from the Capital

A Florida inmate is suing the State for failing to accommodate his religious needs as an Orthodox Jew.

As a member of a more traditional stream of Judaism, [Ross] Lawson is supposed to eat kosher food and, at certain times, refrain from shaving or cutting his hair.

But state prison authorities have refused to accommodate him, citing, among other things, security risks inherent in beards and the high cost of bringing in prepackaged meals.
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''Lawson sincerely believes that he is required to obey all 613 commandments encompassed with the holy Torah,'' said Justin Uhlemann, a Miami attorney representing the inmate, who is from Fort Lauderdale.

Lawson's fight comes a year after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a federal law requiring state prisons to accommodate the religious affiliations of inmates. It's also close to three years since the state granted Allen Cotton, a convicted killer from Broward, access to kosher meals. Cotton, too, had sued the state.

The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) of 2000 protects prisoners' free exercise rights by requiring government to demonstrate a compelling interest in denying the accommodation of prisoners' religious needs. The Supreme Court upheld RLUIPA in Cutter v. Wilkinson