California prison officials must be ever vigilant to prevent inmates from getting their hands on forbidden stuff – shanks, dope, phones and the like.

Then there's kosher food. Only a few deserve it, but all inmates covet it and scheme to get it. If one non-Jew slips through the net, it could set an unmanageable precedent.

At least that's a position put forth by prison officials in attempting to foil Margarito Jesus Garcia's quest to keep kosher.

Besides, they argue, a prison rabbi refused to recognize Garcia as a traditional Jew because of his messianic belief in Jesus.

While an inmate at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, Garcia claimed he practices Messianic Judaism and embraces the tenet to keep kosher. He mounted a court challenge to a denial of his request to participate in an existing kosher meals program.

Amador Superior Court Judge Don F. Howard sided with the prison bosses, but the Sacramento-based 3rd District Court of Appeal last week reversed his ruling.

In a 22-page published opinion, a three-justice panel said prison officials are in violation of Garcia's rights under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000. The justices found it has not been shown that keeping kosher food away from Garcia "furthers a compelling governmental interest," and, even if there was one, it has not been shown that is "the least restrictive means of furthering that interest," as required by RLUIPA.

Garcia, 32, is doing 15 years to life on a no-contest plea to second-degree murder in Butte County. He was 22 when he was sentenced and had lived his entire life in the county until he went to prison. He stabbed a young man while at a party that ended in a brawl over a beer bong.

He told probation authorities before sentencing that he was Catholic. But in July 2009, he submitted a request to be included in Mule Creek's kosher diet program and said he had been practicing Messianic Judaism for two years. Messianic Judaism generally blends Christian beliefs with Jewish practices.

A kosher food program requires certification by a rabbi, separate utensils, dishes, and storage to ensure no contact between meat and dairy foods, and preparation in a separate kitchen area by trained staff.

According to court papers, 684 inmates participate in kosher food programs at the state's 33 adult prisons. The cost is $7.97 per inmate per day, compared with the $2.90 cost of regular meals, the papers say. At Mule Creek, 43 of roughly 3,600 inmates receive kosher meals, they say.

Prison officials argue that even a modest increase in the number of participants "would require increased storage, more staffing, increased training of new workers, and (would) strain already-limited resources allotted for the program."

The papers quote John F. Yates, assistant correctional food manager at Mule Creek, as saying kosher food is much sought after by non-Jewish inmates because of its better taste and quality.

"Thus," Yates is quoted, "Jewish kosher meal items are frequently stolen to be consumed, bartered, or sold as contraband. Even with the relatively small number of participants in the kosher meal program, theft prevention, inventory control, and associated custody problems with contraband are ongoing. … This problem would be greatly exacerbated if the kosher meal program was expanded to include … non-Jewish inmates."

A skeptical appellate panel said it could not conclude "either that the (kosher diet program) will be overwhelmed or that a limited extension to include (Garcia) would place a significant strain on prison resources."

The panel also found labeling Garcia a nontraditional Jew "is an artificial construct that has no bearing on the issue."

While prison regulations limit participation to traditional Jews, it wrote, "those regulations might just as readily have … limited participation to Jews with red hair. RLUIPA prohibits imposition of a substantial burden on an inmate's religious exercise."

"The issue here is not whether (Garcia) is a Jew, but whether his system of religious beliefs includes maintaining a kosher diet," the justices stated. To the extent prison policy and regulations permit such inmates to be excluded from the program, "they cannot stand," the panel declared.

After the legal squabble began, Garcia was transferred to Ironwood State Prison in Blythe.

The justices added that anytime Garcia winds up in a prison without a kosher meal program, he must be transferred to a prison where one is available.

The opinion was authored by Associate Justice Harry E. Hull Jr. Acting Presiding Justice Cole Blease and Associate Justice Louis Mauro concurred.

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