Perry Avram March, the son of a Romanian Jewish immigrant who, back in 2006, was convicted of murdering his wife, Janet Levine March, has filed a 200-page lawsuit (Perry Avram is a lawyer) in early February in federal court in Nashville, complaining about the quality of the kosher food he receives is substandard, which he believes is a veiled attempt to force him to break the tenets of his religion, The Tennessean reported.
“By way of their well-disguised anti-Semitism, Plaintiff (March) avers that all of the efforts expended by the various Defendants in this case are designed to pursue a singular, nefarious Grail — the corporate greed of Aramark, and its lackeys,” March writes.
March is serving a 56-year prison term after being convicted in the 1996 disappearance of his wife, and plotting to murder her parents.
On August 29, 1996, children’s books illustrator Janet Levine March, was reported missing from her suburban Nashville home to police by her husband and mother. Perry March told police his had left the house two weeks earlier, because of an argument. She was never seen alive afterwards. Her car was found at a nearby apartment complex a week after the police report. Police reclassified the case as a homicide, despite the absence of Janet’s body, and named Perry as a suspect – at which point he moved to his native Chicago area with the couple’s two children. Later, he moved with the children to Mexico, to live with his father, Arthur, a retired pharmacist.
Perry fought his former in-laws in state and federal court over the administration of Janet’s property and the status of the children. Janet was declared legally dead in 2000, and Nashville police continued investigating, and found evidence suggesting Perry had in fact killed her. In 2004, a grand jury indicted him on murder and other charges in his wife’s death. While he was in jail, police learned that Perry was conspiring with his father and another inmate to kill his in-laws. Arthur March was arrested and told prosecutors, in exchange for a reduced sentence, that he had helped Perry move Janet’s body to Kentucky. Arthur later died in federal prison.
Perry was convicted of all charges in 2006, despite the absence of Janet’s body. In 2015, the United States Supreme Court denied his certiorari petition, exhausting his appeals. He has maintained his innocence, and is currently serving his 56-year sentence at Tennessee’s Morgan County Correctional Complex – where the kosher food, apparently, stinks.
According to The Tennessean, Perry March’s legal complaints claims the Tennessee Department of Correction, together with food service corporation Aramark are discriminating against him deliberately, serving him meals that lack nutritious value and are not prepared in adherence to Jewish dietary laws.
March, representing himself, believes the prison system is pressuring him to give up his religious practice by feeding him poor quality soy meals, and a kosher menu with limited entree options, compared with what the other inmates receive.
A Correctional Department spokesperson said in an email to The Tennessean that “while it would be inappropriate for us to comment on pending legal matters, we remain committed to ensuring offenders are provided with quality, nutritious meals.”
And an Aramark spokesperson said said in an email to The Tennessean that “as a leader in the Corrections industry for 40 years, serving hundreds of facilities around the country, we are confident that the meals served at Tennessee Department of Correction meet the requirements specified by the state and our high quality standards.”
