The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Colorado (ACLU) announced today that the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC) had agreed to resume providing kosher meals to Timothy Sheline, a Jewish prisoner whose kosher food diet was revoked for one year as punishment for allegedly violating a minor dining hall rule.

Two days ago, the ACLU filed suit on behalf of Sheline, asserting that the DOC unjustifiably revoked his kosher diet because a guard in the dining hall reported that Sheline was caught taking two packages of butter and two packages of salad dressing from his food tray and putting them in his pocket.

“DOC officials deserve praise for quickly taking action to restore Mr. Sheline’s ability to eat in the prison dining hall without violating his sincerely-held religious beliefs,” said Mark Silverstein, ACLU Legal Director. “We were ready to ask the Court for an emergency injunction this week if Mr. Sheline’s kosher meals were not restored right away. The DOC’s prompt action now makes this unnecessary.”

Restoring Mr. Sheline’s kosher meals resolves the most pressing issue in the lawsuit, Silverstein said, but it does not resolve the entire case. “The lawsuit also challenges the DOC regulation that authorizes DOC officials to revoke prisoners’ right to a religious diet for unjustifiable reasons and without due process,” Silverstein said. “Today’s action was a good first step, but problems with the DOC’s regulation remain unresolved.”

Since his kosher diet was revoked in April, the lawsuit states, Sheline has been struggling to survive on a severely-restricted diet of the few kosher foods he has been able to purchase at the prison canteen with his meager funds. As a result, he has lost over 30 pounds on a diet consisting almost entirely of peanut butter and crackers.

The ACLU lawsuit relies on the First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion and a federal statute enacted in 2000, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which strengthens legal protections for prisoners’ religious activities. 

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The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Colorado (ACLU) announced today that its attorneys had filed suit against the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC) on behalf of Timothy Sheline, a Jewish prisoner whose kosher food diet was revoked for one year as punishment for allegedly violating a minor dining hall rule.

According to the lawsuit, the DOC has recognized that Mr. Sheline’s sincerely-held religious beliefs require that he maintain a kosher diet. The DOC was providing that diet until last spring, when Sheline was notified that his right to receive a kosher food tray in the prison dining hall had been revoked.

The lawsuit states that Sheline’s kosher diet was revoked because a guard in the dining hall reported that Sheline was caught taking two packages of butter and two packages of salad dressing from his food tray and putting them in his pocket.

Since his kosher diet was revoked in April, the lawsuit states, Sheline has been struggling to survive on a severely-restricted diet of the few kosher foods he is able to purchase at the prison canteen with his meager funds. As a result, he has lost over 30 pounds on a diet consisting almost entirely of peanut butter and crackers.

“The Constitution protects the right of prisoners to freely exercise and practice their religious beliefs,” said Mark Silverstein, ACLU Legal Director. “Congress recently strengthened the legal protections available to prisoners when it enacted the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, (RLUIPA). That statute places a heavy burden of proof on the government to justify any restrictions on religious practice.”

“It took extensive litigation several years ago to force the DOC to provide kosher meals to Jewish prisoners whose religious practice requires them,” Silverstein continued. “Prisoners can now receive religious diets, but the DOC claims, unjustifiably, that it has the right to revoke those diets on the basis of alleged violations of minor dining hall rules. The DOC certainly has a right to enforce its dining hall rules and to sanction prisoners who violate them. But it cannot do so by infringing and burdening the right of prisoners to practice their religion.”

The DOC revoked Mr. Sheline’s entitlement to a kosher diet on the basis of Administrative Regulation 1550-06, which sets out procedures for granting and revoking religious diets. The ACLU contends that the diet-revocation provisions violate the right of prisoners to religious freedom and due process of law.

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The lawsuit, Sheline v. Ortiz, was filed in United States District Court in Denver.  

Declaration of Ashlee Shields

I, ASHLEE SHIELDS, state and declare as follows:

1. I am thirteen years old and a seventh grade student at Plainview School. I have one younger brother and one younger sister. Both of them are students at Plainview School too.

2. Plainview School is very small. There are four other students in the seventh grade besides me. They are all girls. One of these girls just joined our class a few weeks ago.

3. I do not belong to any church and I do not have any religious beliefs. I think that a person's beliefs about religion are personal and should be kept private. I am very uncomfortable whenever I am at an event where prayers or religious talks are given or religious songs are sung. I always feel left out or like I don't belong when this happens. I never know what to do. I don't want to stay and have to listen, but I get very embarrassed and self-conscious if I leave the room because then I call attention to myself and feel even more left out.

4. A lot of activities in our area are connected with the churches. My best friends all go to the same church and do most of their socializing at church groups or activities sponsored by their church. I'm not involved in any of these activities. Most of the time I don't go to community events either because I know there will always be prayers and religious music included.

5. I have been elected by the eighth grade to be an usher at this year's graduation and continuation ceremony for seniors and eighth graders. Only two seventh grade students are chosen each year to be ushers. I am proud and happy to be chosen as an usher. I have never been to a graduation and I think it would be exciting and interesting to go, especially because I know all of the seniors and eighth graders.

6. I am nervous about going to graduation because there has been a lot of discussion at school about whether there will be a prayer at the ceremony. If that happens, I will be uncomfortable and won't know what to do. I don't think I should have to just try to ignore the prayer and I don't want to have to leave the room because it makes me the center of attention and makes me feel left out.

7. Sometimes religion gets involved in other school activities too. All seventh and eighth grade students are required to take a choir class. Earlier this year, the seventh and eighth grade choir classes gave a concert. Our music teacher, Mrs. Fink, chose all of the songs we were going to sing. Two of them were religious and talked about being saved or remembered by God. Mrs. Fink told me that I didn't need to practice or perform these songs. She said I could stand quietly or go out in the hall while the choir was practicing. I was embarrassed to have to leave the room during part of class.

8. When we performed the concert, I left the stage when each of these songs was being sung. I was very upset about having to do that, and I wondered what people thought of me for leaving, but I also didn't want to just stand on stage and listen to the songs.

9. I don't think I should have to choose between listening to prayers or not being able to participate in school activities.

The above declaration is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Ashlee Shields