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Out Of The Mailbag – To YW Editor (From Jewish Inmates Of Otisville Prison)


yw logo1.jpgEditors Note: Just before Pesach, YWN had posted an article which had appeared in the NY Magazine regarding the Pesach Seder in Otisville Federal Prison Camp. The inmates at the prison have written a response to that article, and have sent it to YWN. [The text of the original article is posted at the bottom of this post, or it can be viewed by clicking HERE].

Dear Yeshiva World,

I am writing to you on behalf of the Jewish inmates incarcerated at the FCI Otisville, Federal Prison Camp. Your article, “Medium Security Seder” (4/21/08) was fraught with multiple misstatements of fact and has done a great disservice to those whose religious observance is important:

First the facts:

1. The fact that Otisville is close geographically to a “Jewish population” and “rabbis” has no bearing on the food or other services. A bit of research would have uncovered a national menu for Special Diets including kosher and Halal which is provided for by approved vendors. We have no regular visiting Rabbi who ministers to us.

2. Your quote, “The Bureau of Prisons kind of unofficially designated it to meet the needs of Orthodox Jews” is inaccurate. Firstly, there are fewer than 2 dozen Orthodox Jews incarcerated throughout the entire Federal System. Secondly, in the New York-New Jersey regions, many Jewish inmates are designated to Fort Dix.

3. Your reference to Dr. Sam Waskal and Martin Frenkel in the same breath, makes it obvious that you have no idea regarding the various security levels of the BOP. Dr. Waksal served part of his time at the Camp, while Mr. Frenkel is serving his time at the medium security prison.

4. Otisville does not, as you say, “have a full time Jewish chaplain.” The Chaplain (who happens to be Jewish) is the Chaplain for all 14 denominations including Christians, Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, Native Americans and Jews. He does not serve as the Rabbi of the Jewish community, and in fact his presence as “court Jew” is disadvantageous to the Jewish population.

5. Otisville boasts a “Kosher Kitchen” – False!

6. “Religious Perks” are non existent, unless you count worshipping as a perk under the Constitution.

7. Your Seder menu sounds much more appetizing than the prison provisions that inmates get. In fact, every religion receives under BOP rules, one religious meal per year. For the Jews it means the Pesach Seder with”table cloths” (bed sheets actually) because the prison tables are used for non-Pesach uses and to do otherwise would seriously compromise the stringent rules for Passover.

8. Otisville does have a unique “inmate run Seder” and that is because the inmates here comprise a microcosm of Jewish life, including Hasidic, Orthodox, Conservative, reform and unaffiliated Jews who work very hard at accommodating each others’ beliefs and customs, without any effort on the part of the Chaplain.

Just a bit of research would have provided the hard core facts regarding our brothers who are ‘behind the fence’ in the ‘medium security prison’ and who have to struggle daily to keep their basic beliefs. Jewish inmates have been forced to file suit in order to have the right to pray in a respectful area and not in a cell which contains an exposed toilet.

Did you do any research at all? Perhaps if you did, you have learned that the inmates at Otisville had to file suit this year together with their Muslim and Christian brothers to undo a BOP directive which cleared the majority of religious books from the Chapel!

More, inmates are constantly singled out for discipline when their sin is wanting to fulfill a religious obligation. Inmates in the medium security facility and in the prison camp are constantly subjected to taunts and anti-Semitic activities (including swastikas) from other inmates and some staff.

Your regurgitation of the Otisville/Club Fed myth is simple a statement of your lack of any basic research. Your depiction of Pesach in Otisville has done us a great disservice and based upon the BOP reacts to any publicity, it will probably result in fewer religious freedoms.

“Tonight We Are Free Men” – May the truth free you!

Sincerely,

The Jewish Inmates of Otisville Federal Prison Camp.

TEXT OF ORIGONAL ARTICLE:

Yesterdays New York Magazine published the following article:

Passover, which begins this year at sundown on April 19, commemorates the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt to freedom. Even so, it’s a big deal among the unfree at the medium-security federal prison in Otisville, about 75 miles upstate, which is known for its well-attended and rigorously run Seders. “Otisville is very close to New York City, so it has more access to a Jewish population, to rabbis, and to kosher food,” says Rabbi Menachem Katz, director of prison programs for the Jewish-outreach Aleph Institute. “The Bureau of Prisons kind of unofficially designated it to meet the needs of Orthodox Jews.”

Considered a haven for white-collar criminals, Otisville is one of only a handful of federal institutions to have a full-time Jewish chaplain. It also boasts a kosher kitchen and weekly Shabbat services, religious perks that led Forbes to name it one of the “12 Best Places to Go to Prison.” This year, about four dozen prisoners will sit down to kosher-for-Passover chicken, potatoes, and the Pesach fixings—horseradish, handmade matzo, boiled eggs—for a full, inmate-led Seder.

Otisville’s Seders are held in the prison’s cafeteria; the festival meal is served on white tablecloths in airplane-style prepackaged trays. Each participant gets his own Haggadah, and the prison provides the necessary items—shank bones, charoset—for a Seder plate. It’s unclear how many of Otisville’s 1,189 inmates are Jewish. The warden says 58; Chaplain Gary Friedman, chairman of Jewish Prisoner Services International, says it’s at least twice that. In the past, prisoners paid to be bussed in from other institutions for Passover, though this practice has stopped as similar services have been introduced elsewhere. Otisville still offers one of the more traditional Seders in the prison system.

“Once you’ve been at a prison Seder, it’ll never be the same on the outside,” says Friedman. “The Haggadah has a line that reads ‘Tonight we are all free men,’ and for the duration of the Seder, they are.” Sort of: Where the Seder calls for four cups of wine, at Otisville, says the warden, “they get four cups of grape juice.”

NYM



17 Responses

  1. we all are very quick to say how these people deserve whats coming to them for the crime they commited. lets think about were we are headed. we have alot coming to us too. ( at least i speak for myself)when we have pity on fellow jews hashem has pity on us.

  2. “Tonight We Are Free Men” – May the truth free you!

    isn’t this “truth will set you free” buisness a new testament quote?

  3. when the prisoners finish doing their time, they will appreciate a seder as well as the other Holidays. I feel bad for the children who ask the mama the 4 questions because tatty is in otisville. I feel bad for the mama who has to explain that next year, or the year after… tatty will be be back to make the seder. sorry, I do not feel bad for someone having to use a bed sheet for a table cloth and doesn’t have all the comforts of home or hotel while in prison.

  4. To the author of the article- good. I hope that this article puts a lot of the ppl who made the nasty comments in their place. Sadly, I personally don’t think it will though- “you can’t talk to a cow, It’ll just moo at you” they won’t get it. But thank you for clarifying, and good luck on you treck to the straight and narrow. May hashem help you.

  5. david ladimore-

    Two people that want to acheive similar means are more likely to acheive it by banding up together as brothers. It doesn’t mean they agree with each other on anything else. Not that I like the term they used either, but be glad they still consider themselves jews. You read how bad conditions are there.

  6. #5, YOU DONT WANT TO FEEL BAD FOR THEM? I SURE HOPE SOMEONE FEELS BAD FOR YOU AFTER 120 YEARS AND DAVENS FOR YOU SO YOU DONT HAVE A HARD TIME UP THERE…….ILL FEEL BAD FOR THEM AND DAVEN FOR THEM LIKE I WOULD WANT DONE FOR ME. DID U EVER MAKE A MISTAKE IN YOUR LIFE??

  7. #8 re-read my post, “I do not feel bad for someone having to use a bed sheet for a table cloth and doesn’t have all the comforts of home or hotel while in prison” They like anyone else has the chance to do tshuva – in fact they probably see it more than the rest of us. I feel bad if they are mistreated or abused in anyway and I hope that when they are released, they will understand why they were there and resolve to be better.

    now, for your clarification, they are not in the Nevele, nor the Fontainebleau, they are in prison for reasons not necessarily known to us but known to them. they were provided with basic necessities for a seder and the authior of the letter is complaing b/c of tableclothes and such… sorry, he should have thought of this prior to whatever it is that was done to end uo there. once again, I feel for the wife and kids. I feel bad that a Yid has sunk so low to end up in Otisville or Joliet I do not feel bad that he has to use a bedsheet as a tablecloth.

    go ahead, push you caps key and yell back your next rant

  8. mdlevine…….thank you for caring. btw did you notice that the tabelcloth comment was just a by-fact in the letter? the letter was ment to down play the article that said how good they have it. the facts are its not so easy for them to be jewish there and that is the real problem. they are complaining that they are there or dont deserve it, just sying that its not as glorious as it seems.

  9. “they are complaining that they are there or dont deserve it, ” CORRECTION: they are not complaining…..

  10. I can understand those who say” these inmates deserve what they get, they did something wrong and should have thought about the consequences beforehand”. HOWEVER, I would expect these writers to be CONSISTENT and have a special nusach in their Yom Kippur machzor. Whereas the rest of us ask for slicha, mechila, and capara for our mistakes, these “writers’ should simply be saying to Hashem they did something wrong, should have thought about it beforehand, and Hashem should give them whatever they deserve!

    Think about it.

  11. You all are missing the point. This letter was written to debunk an article that was written in New York Magazine. That article (which I believe there is a link to at the top of this page) portrayed the situation for Jewish inmates at Otisville to be a rosy one. While in fact it is not. While, I am not asking ANYONE to feel bad for us, at least understand the whole picture before you start making comments that are not accurate. Read the article and then read the letter, it should make a little more sense.

    What you should think about is who is here and why they are here. Some of you seem to say they are in jail and they deserve it. Really? Do you think it’s possible that someone here has been wrongly convicted? Is it possible that someone is here because he did not want to tell the government that someone else was at fault and decided to take the fall? Is it possible that someone checked the wrong box on a bank loan form or a tax return and ended up here? In fact, there are people in all those scenarios here. Let’s leave alone all the people who have done tshuva and are better people then they have ever been because they are here.

    I on the other hand, am the person who deserves it. I will readily admit that I did the crime I was convicted of. I got 5 years in jail and have served about 9 months at this point. According to some of you I am a horrible person and got what i deserve. I committed a crime that lasted a whole three weeks and was based on one bad decision. Because of that decision I lost my family, my kids, all my earthly positions and am now sitting in jail. But as you all say, I got what I deserve.

    He is a criminal, he doesn’t deserve to do mitzvos let alone hiddur mitzvah! Only people on the street are aloud to do mitzvos properly. Because as we all know, people on the street are on a much higher madragah then people in jail. I mean why would someone be in jail unless they are a kofer be’ikur?! None goes to jail who is a good person. The Bal Shem Tov, even Yosef Hatzadik was in jail. But hey, they deserved it too.

    We just learned in last weeks Parsha. V’ahavta L’racha K’mocha. Love your neighbor like yourself. Oh wait, my fault, I forgot what Rashi said. He said if they are in Jail this doesn’t apply….

  12. Just to reinforce comment #13

    Halacha pasuka

    שלחן ערוך, אורח חיים סימן קכ”ח:לט

    (לט) לא היו בו מהדברים המונעים נשיאת כפים אף על פי שאינו מדקדק במצות וכל העם מרננים אחריו נושא את כפיו (שאין שאר עבירות מונעין נשיאת כפים):

    If a cohen does avairos (not involving the kehuna)He is still obligated in positive commendments, and is required to duchan.

  13. Such worry! If one does not forgive, does Hashim forgive the unforgiving, have have empathy for those who are not empathic, have sympathy for the unsympathetic? We place ourselve is such a position for condemnation and complain when we receive it. Oy Vey!

  14. Who cares? If these criminals did something evil enough to get them convicted then they are being treated too well.

    Ever consider the Chilul Hashem that each of these criminals is causing? Chilul Hashem has no parallel in its severity.

    Ever consider the victims of these criminals?

    Ever consider how the reputation of the rest of us are suffering as the frum Jewish prison population is growing?

    To all the bleeding hearts, Chazal taught us:
    “He who is kind to the cruel will become cruel to the kind.”

    If you really cared you would publicize each of the inmates pictures and story so that the rest of the community will learn a lesson.

    Limud Zchus to the bleeding hearts: You’re worried that if they catch up with you, you’re also going to be locked up.

  15. What happened to “yisroel af al pi shechoto, yisroel hu”? It’s the constant refrain of the pro-state-of-israel crowd.

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