Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology

Marking a Muslim Inmate’s Cell Door With “M” to Signify Pork-Free Diet Does Not Constitute a Violation of His Negative Freedom of Religion

by Adina Müller

Question(s) at stake

Whether marking the prison cell door of a Muslim inmate with the letter M – which stands for Muslim and is meant to denote that the inmate consumes pork-free food – violates the inmate’s right to negative freedom of religion.

Outcome of the ruling

A prison cell door marked with the letter M – which stands for Muslim and implies that the corresponding inmate’s diet is restricted to pork-free food – does not constitute an infringement on the right to negative freedom of religion.

Country:

Germany

Official citation

Higher Regional Court Karlsruhe, Decision of 15 February 2018, 2 Ws 1/18 (OLG Karlsruhe, Beschluss vom 15 Februar 2018, 2 Ws 1/18)

ECLI:DE:OLGKARL:2018:0215.2WS1.18.00

Topic(s)

Keywords:

Dietary regimes Institutional / Organizational aspects Legal toolbox Non-discrimination Rights and freedoms Freedom of thought, conscience and religion Detention

Tag(s):

Stereotyping

Bibliographic information

Müller, Adina (2025): Marking a Muslim Inmate’s Cell Door With “M” to Signify Pork-Free Diet Does Not Constitute a Violation of His Negative Freedom of Religion, Department of Law and Anthropology, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle (Saale), Germany, CUREDI047DE001, https://doi.org/10.48509/CUREDI047DE001.

About the authors

Adina Müller (Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Germany)