Sheline v. Ortiz

This lawsuit was filed on behalf of Timothy Sheline, an Orthodox Jewish prisoner in the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC). His sincerely-held religious beliefs require that he maintain a kosher diet, which the DOC was providing until April, 2005. The DOC revoked Mr. Sheline’s kosher diet because a guard in the dining hall reported that Mr. Sheline was caught taking two packages of butter and two packages of salad dressing from his food tray and putting them in his pocket. The DOC acted on the basis of Administrative Regulation 1550-06, which sets out the grounds and the procedures for granting and revoking religious diets. The lawsuit argues that the diet-revocation provisions of this regulation violate the right of prisoners to religious freedom and due process of law.