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(MLive file photo)

Michigan Department of Corrections prisons for the first time will adjust meal schedules and menus to cater to Muslim inmates during the religious month of Ramadan this year.

The changes are in response to a 2013 lawsuit filed by the Michigan Council on Arab-American Relations (CAIR-MI), a nonprofit that advocates for Muslims. The lawsuit claimed Muslim inmates, because of their religion and the inflexibility of meal delivery, weren't able to intake a healthy amount of calories during Ramadan.

Ramadan, which celebrates the revelation of the Quran to Muhammad, requires believers to fast from sunrise to sunset. Muslims usually have a large meal prior to sunrise and just after sunset during the month of fasting. This means Muslim prisoners were limited in the meals that could eat while in prison, because they were served at traditional times of the day.

"The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court - Eastern District of Michigan Southern Division in 2013, challenged a policy that required Muslim inmates to sacrifice an adequate diet when they elected to participate in the Ramadan fast," CAIR said in a statement following the settlement. "Muslim inmates received as little as 1/3 of the recommended daily calories in Ramadan 2011 and 2012."

CAIR press release

The Michigan Attorney General's Office, on behalf of MDOC, agreed to a settlement that requires guards to adjust meal times for Muslim inmates so they have the opportunity to ingest as many calories as non-Muslim inmates, says CAIR-MI Director Dawud Walid. Those meals will be served during traditional Ramada meal times.

The MDOC is also paying $18,000 to the CAIR Legal fund to be divvied between the four prisoners who filed the lawsuit and their attorneys. Any outstanding debts owed by the prisoners, such as court unpaid court fees or victim settlements, will be garnished from the settlement amount, said Andrea Bitely, a spokeswoman for Attorney Bill Schuette's office.

"Since the filing of the lawsuit, MDOC has increased the amount of food it provides Muslim inmates participating in the Ramadan fast to satisfy the nutritional and caloric guidelines set forth in the United States Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Agriculture 'Dietary Guidelines for Americans,'" CAIR said in a statement. "The Court recently ruled that MDOC is not entitled to qualified immunity because "a reasonable official would have known that [receiving as little as one third of the recommended daily calories for the one month Ramadan period in 2011 and 2012] was insufficient to sustain Plaintiffs in good health and thus violates their First and Eighth Amendment rights."