     Saturday, April 28, 2012  Federal Judge Enforces Sharia-
Compliance in Ohio Prisons  In 2011, death row inmate Abdul
Awkal sued an Ohio prison because he was receiving non-halal
food while in prison. As a consequence, the Ohio Department of
Rehabilitation and Correction banned all pork products in
prison.  This year, prisoner James Rivers filed a lawsuit
arguing that pork should not be outright banned. He reasoned
that, should Muslims not want to eat pork, they had the right
to, but that it was discriminatory to ban pork for everyone.
Additionally, the prison did offer meals without pork products
in them before the ban.  To reinforce Rivers's lawsuit, prison
authorities argued that the change to all-halal food could
potentially "bankrupt the system." Despite all of this, a
federal judge has thrown out Rivers's case, refusing to even
hear it in court.  The judge stated that forcing non-Muslims to
adhere to a Muslim diet is not the establishment of a religion
because everyone eats the same food. He did not