Obama Bans Pork from Prisons, CAIR Praises Decision

The federal Bureau of Prisons has banned pork products from being served in the 122 prisons it runs nationwide, The Washington Post reports. 

The ban started with the new fiscal year, which began October 1, and is attributed by the bureau to prisoners not liking pork. Surveys over recent years have found prisoners like pork least of all meats, and it is too costly, prison bureau spokesman Edmond Ross told the Post.

The National Pork Producers Council was skeptical.

"I find it hard to believe that a survey would have found a majority of any population saying, 'No thanks, I don’t want any bacon,'" Dave Warner, a spokesman for the group, said.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations praised the move.

"In general we welcome the change because it’s facilitating the accommodation of Muslim inmates," CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said. "We hope it's not an indication of an increasing number of Muslims in the prison system."

Non-pork options have long been available to observant Jews and Muslims, who can't eat pork products for religious reasons.

The nation's 206,000 federal prisoners still can buy packaged pork rinds and pre-cooked bacon in the prison commissary.

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