A federal judge ended a 5-year-old lawsuit against the state last week by agreeing an incarcerated man had not shown the religious diet served to him in prison violated his rights.

Russell M. Boles in 2019 sued the Colorado Department of Corrections, the food service administrator and a rabbi contracted to consult about kosher diets in prisons. Boles, who is Jewish, alleged he was served a “fake” kosher diet not prepared in accordance with Jewish law. He also claimed the food was too high in sodium and the consulting rabbi was “fraudulently approving” food as kosher.

“This causes me to transgress against Hashem (G-d) every time I eat. And eating non-kosher food defiles the soul as well as the body,” wrote Boles, representing himself.

In July, U.S. Magistrate Judge Scott T. Varholak recommended that the defendants should prevail as a matter of law, believing Boles’ “unsupported allegations regarding improper food preparation” doomed his claims.

“Plaintiff does not cite any legal authority to support a finding that a diet containing more carbohydrates than recommended and/or containing a high percentage of processed foods is constitutionally defective, and the Court is not aware of any,” Varholak wrote.

As for Boles’ claim that he was even served rotten produce at times, Vaholak noted the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit has found no constitutional issue with that.

Boles objected to Varholak’s recommendation, but U.S. District Court Judge Regina M. Rodriguez upheld it entirely in a Sept. 27 order. She also agreed the rabbi could not be sued as a “state actor” because the evidence showed he merely consulted on food preparation, with no authority to execute meal services.

The case is Boles v. Colorado Department of Corrections et al.