Man Denied Veg Meals In Jail

A Mill Valley, Calif., man has gotten attention from activists this week—not for his recent release from jail after charges against him were dropped, but for the weight that he dropped while incarcerated due to being denied access to vegetarian food. Seventy-year-old Dave McDonald, a 42-year vegetarian, lost nearly 50 pounds in 99 days while he served time in a Marin County facility that refused to accommodate his meat-free diet. California correctional institutes are legally required to serve vegetarian food to inmates if they cite religious or medical reasons, but not for other belief systems. “I don’t want animal corpses on my plate,” McDonald said after his release. “My belief in not hurting animals is more powerful than any religious belief.”