Officials of the Attica Correctional Facility say that they do not have to honor an inmate's request for vegan meals. The inmate, who is serving a 37-year term for assault and burglary, is morally opposed to eating animal products.

Attica's spokesman acknowledges that the prison has a constitutional obligation to respect the dietary requirements of inmates' religions, but he says he has no such obligation to respect the requirements of a vegan person.

So it is okay to permit a prisoner to abstain from "unclean" food and to honor the disciplines of organized religion, but not okay to permit him to be true to an actual commitment to nonviolence. Not only does this not make any sense, it is also yet another direct hit at morality that isn't wrapped in the cloth of a church. If he were to suddenly find Jesus, you can bet prison officials would be falling all over themselves to get him a bible and let him attend prayer meetings.