Fencing outside the Michigan Department of Corrections’ Muskegon Correctional Facility and the Ernest C. Brooks Correctional Facility (or E.C. Brooks) in Muskegon on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. (Cory Morse | MLive.com) Cory Morse | MLive.com Almost two years later, a federal investigation into the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) reached an agreement regarding the religious practices of prisoners on Thursday, Nov. 4. The U.S. Department of Justice investigation and agreement addressed MDOC’s policy of a five-person minimum for group worship and religious activities; its policy of prohibiting group religious practice for certain religious groups— Hindu, Yoruba, Hebrew Israelite and Thelema practitioners; and its restrictions limiting access to kosher meals for the Passover holiday for those not on the kosher diet year-round. Based on the agreement reached Thursday, these policies and procedures will be changed. The new policies and practices will remove the five-person minimum for religious services and activities, remove the prohibition on group religious practice for Hindu, Yoruba, Hebrew Israelite and Thelema practitioners and remove the requirement that prisoners must be on the kosher diet year-round to receive the kosher-for-Passover meal. If the MDOC cannot accommodate these new requirements in certain situations, such as when there is a […]
