BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A group of Muslim inmates say they have had to push prison staff to accommodate Islamic religious observance even though state policy requires the prisons to meet special religious needs.
Gregory Sierras, an inmate, said he had to pressure staff at the Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport to hold Friday prayer services and allow Muslim inmates to receive pre-dawn and after-dusk meals during Ramadan.
Dominic Damato, corrections facilities operations manager, said the department made efforts to accommodate the inmates and it was never enough. “People’s individual understandings of what (they feel) they’re entitled to versus what they are entitled to sometimes vary,” he said.
Prison rules require that an outside volunteer oversee religious services within the facilities, and Muslim volunteers weren’t available in Newport, Damato said.
